D Gray Man- Beauty and the Beast
by Brenna76
Summary: This is my idea of beauty and the beast with Allen and the others from D. Gray man. I assigned everyone to their roles taking into account their personalities and relationships (I especially thought Allen would be good for the beast because of how ashamed he seems to be of his appearance). Hope you enjoy it and any comments, ideas and/or criticisms would be much appreciated.
1. Prologue

Lenalee Lee- Beauty

Allen Walker- Beast

( Lord ) Tyki Mikk- Handsome Suitor

Lavi- Servant one

Kanda- Royal Guard

Once upon a time there was a handsome young prince. He had rich brown hair and lively silver- gray eyes that drew people into them. He lived in a elegant castle in an ancient kingdom called Mater. He had a great deal of wealth and power. Because of this the prince who was good at heart grew selfish and unkind almost to the point of no return. He became famed for his cruelty and ignorance.

One night an ugly old woman heavily clad in ragged clothes came to the Prince's castle and asked if she might stay the night there. In exchange for shelter from the bitter cold she presented him with a seed. This, she explained, was a rose seed and would grow the most beautiful roses anyone had ever seen. The seed was so special that the prince found himself entranced by it though he had no idea what it was that he found so beautiful about a simple seed. Returning his gaze to the old woman, he sneered and looked at her with derision. He turned the old woman down despite her gift. She pleaded with him to reconsider and take pity on her, but the Prince would not budge. He once again told her to leave the palace and threatened to have his royal guards throw her out if she would not leave. When he said this, the old woman's appearance began to change until she was no longer recognizable as the same woman.

The prince was aghast as he stared at a beautiful and young fairy princess. She had silky smooth hair and wore an elegant, embroidered dress whose beauty paled in comparison to that of the fairy herself. The fairy princess radiated power. The prince dropped to his knees and begged her for forgiveness, but she was repulsed by his behavior and laid a curse on him and the people of the castle. Those who lived in the castle would be spared if they chose to desert the prince and leave the castle that night. Those who remained loyal to him could stay, but would be cursed with the prince. Most of the servants left the castle in a hurry that night leaving only the most loyal few behind. The prince himself was not allowed to leave. Though he tried, part of the curse placed there was that those left in the castle could never leave the grounds.

Before leaving, the fairy princess placed an additional curse of ugliness on the prince which disfigured his naturally good- looks. A scar was placed on the left side of his face. It ran from above his eyebrow down to his chin, was tinted red and ran right over his eye. His arm was turned into an arm more befitting of a beast than a handsome prince. It looked like his arm was ripped off at the shoulder and replaced with a more robotic arm complete with a large claw to act as a hand. His hair was turned so white that compared to his, the hair the old woman had almost seemed vibrantly colored. Before leaving forever, the fairy princess turned to the miserable prince and told him that he must learn to love someone and have them love him back. If he could do this, the spell would be broken. Then she left.

At first the prince thought that he could easily complete this, but he soon found that people were frightened of his appearance and hid from him. Fearing him and the curse, the people left the city of Mater and the town grew dark, overgrown and decrepit. The servants and prince could not leave, though. The former prince lost his chance to find anyone to love. It was just as well though as he realized he had long forgotten how to love another. Ashamed of his appearance he locked himself and his remaining servants in the castle most of the time. The loyal servants often tried their best to cheer him up, but he thought of his appearance and attitude and knew he was a monster. He planted the rose seed as a reminder of that night. True to her word, the seed the fairy princess had given him grew the most amazing roses human eyes had ever seen. He loved the rose bush that grew from it and took care of it as if it were his child. He lavished his affections on it as the only light in his otherwise dark world and resigned himself to his lonely fate. He had every reason to believe that there would never be anyone to love him, but he was wrong.


	2. Beautiful Girl

Quite some distance away from the abandoned city of Mater cropped up a small village called the Black Order. In this city the people had never heard of a prince, a beast or an enchanted castle. They were far too content with their tiny, mundane lives for "silly talk" like that.

In this town there lived a young girl. Her name was Lenalee and she was the most beautiful girl in the entire town. She had long, black hair that was so soft just looking at it made one feel as if they were floating on a cloud. Her eyes were large and very pretty with a brightness that you may guess was lit by some invisible fire within her soul. Her figure was certainly something worth admiring, to be sure. Her smile was said to be bright enough to light the town at night.

It's easy to imagine that a great deal of men pined after her and they were not shy about saying so. One of the more aggressive of these men was Tyki Mikk. He was the most attractive and sought- after man in town and everybody knew it. He was a tall individual towering at six foot four. He always dressed well in either a loose fitting shirt and pants or a fancy suit with his curly, jet black hair tucked under a hat.

He was determined to have the lovely Lenalee fall in love with him and then make her his wife. Lenalee herself was unimpressed with him and would have gladly told him that to his face if not for the sake of being polite.

Lenalee lived with her brother in a simple, but large house in town. After their parents had died in an accident, they had settled into a comfortable routine. Her brother would cook and take care of the bills while Lenalee would clean the home and do the shopping.

She never wanted to leave her brother's side (not that he would let her, anyway), but she craved a change. She wanted something interesting to happen to her so that she could feel as if she were living for once.

She also thought that she might want to fall in love if it were with the right person instead of the shallow and boring men that her town seemed to produce. It was a day not unlike any other when the change she so craved would come.

Lenalee was shopping at the town market one day as it was one of her many chores. Though they often had little money to spend, Lenalee always managed to find a way to stretch a penny so that they could afford plenty.

As she was looking over a vegetable cart for the best tomatoes in the bunch, her eyes wandered over to another stall selling jewelry. She didn't usually wear that sort of thing because it wasn't her style and she simply didn't have the money for it. However, this time she saw something breathtaking on the stall.

The most beautiful bracelet she had ever seen. It was thick and silver with ornate drawings twirling around on it. Her breath caught in her throat and she forgot to breathe at the sight of it. The owner of the stall turned to look at the staring Lenalee and shot her a glare as warning. This threw Lenalee back into the moment and with an apologetic bow of her head, she left.

As she left she sighed lightly. She had so wanted the bracelet, but she couldn't afford it. She couldn't even afford a piece of it. Lenalee hung her head, thoroughly lost in sadness. She was so engrossed in these emotions that she did not see that someone had been observing the whole thing and was continuing to watch her as she walked away.

When Lenalee got home, she was greeted by the smell of onions and burning food. That could mean only one thing, her brother was cooking dinner. Sighing in exasperation, she went into the kitchen and put the groceries down on the counter. Sure enough there was her brother standing in front of the stove stirring something that looked like mud.

"What are you making, Komui?" She asked trying her best to smile at him. Komui turned around with cooking utensils still in hand and smiled warmly at her.

"Lenalee, welcome back!" He greeted enthusiastically. "I'm making soup!"

_Soup?_ Lenalee questioned cautiously. She craned her neck to look into the pot on the stove and saw something she thought looked like brown glue. Her body gave a small shudder.

"Would you like to taste it?" Komui asked holding out a spoon hopefully.

"Well... I'm not really hungry and it's not really my thing," she began trying to think of an easy way to avoid trying it.

Komui's hand with the spoon dropped and his head dropped low in a sulking matter. As she watched her brother whimper, Lenalee summoned up her courage and took a bite. It didn't taste so bad, but there was an overwhelming taste of onions. That must be why the house smelled like that.

"How much onion did you put in this, brother?" Lenalee asked.

"What?" Komui said looking surprised. "There's no onion in that. We're out, that's why I asked you to buy some." Hearing that, Lenalee tried not to choke on the soup. She didn't want to think about what could be in it to make it taste and smell like that.

After cautiously eating the soup with her brother, Lenalee set out putting the groceries away and tidying up the house. Lenalee found that she cleaned almost every day no matter how much work she did.

_My brother is a disorganized slob. I don't know how he can work like this. _She found herself thinking as she threw away a pile of junk mail from his desk. _And he has way too many files too. _

That night she finished work and laid down in bed to go to sleep. When she slept she often dreamed tedious and boring dreams or nothing at all. She thought it mirrored how boring and tedious her life and the lives of the people of her town really were. Though she craved adventure, she was rarely able to dream of it and she thought maybe that was because she didn't know what kind of adventure she wanted.

She didn't know what she wanted, only what she didn't want. This night, however, she had a new dream or perhaps it was a nightmare. It started with Lenalee walking in the woods. She didn't know how she got there or how to get out, but she didn't think about that. For some reason, she didn't care. She just kept walking like it was the only things still important to her.

She recognized the trees as those on the very edge of her town's territory. She thought she was walking on what used to be a path, but it was overgrown and rocky from age and from being unused. The trees were all dead and few showed any signs of healing. Low-hanging limbs and clinging shrubbery were evident everywhere, often interfering with her journey.

Curiously, every time she stumbled or tripped during the trek, she just continued walking without wasting another moment as if nothing happened. When she finally stopped she had reached the edge of the forest. The sight that greeted her when she got there was terrifying.

There stood what seemed to be an abandoned city. The crude homes were chipping and rotting. Weathered by the elements, some of the buildings had collapsed under their own weight. All the plants in the windows and gardens of the homes had long been dead and there was not a single person in sight.

Beyond the streets in the distance Lenalee could see a large, formidable castle with lights burning distinctly inside. She took a step forward without realizing she was standing on a cliff and fell down a deep slope.

Screaming, Lenalee shot up in bed. It took her ten entire minutes to calm down after that. At first she had been frightened, but the fear later gave way to a peculiar interest in her dream.

_An abandoned city, huh? A mysterious castle._

She laid back down and began to relax as she thought on it. _Maybe dreams are now the only places I can go for excitement._ _Well, my dream did seem rather exciting. An abandoned city...not bad. _

_It isn't a bad thing, really. Not a bad thing. _


	3. Cursed Boy

The castle was silent except for the sound of boots walking along the corridor. A young man was walking around the dark castle without even a candle to light the way. He knew the castle well and didn't need the light to see where he was going. He was walking at a deliberate pace, but had no destination.

Suddenly, a servant ran up behind him clearly having exhausted himself looking for the young man.

"My prince!" He called as he grabbed onto the young man's shoulder. The servant didn't want to have to keep up with him. "What are you doing?" The servant asked him, out of breath.

"Nothing, Lavi," the boy answered moodily. He was often in a foul mood lately.

"Did you have another nightmare?" Lavi tried again. _He often walks around for a while after he has a really bad nightmare, _Lavi thought.

As Lavi stared at his back, he saw the boy's shoulders jump in surprise at the mention of nightmares.

_Aha! So I was right, _Lavi smiled at this thought. _He's so easy to figure out. My master wears his heart on his sleeve. _

"It was just a nightmare I've had a few times before," the boy conceded.

"My lord, if it was that easy, you would not be out here pacing the hallways in the middle of the night." Lavi said sternly.

"It's none of you business!" Allen raised his voice in irritation. He never liked to talk about his nightmares. The hardest ones were always the ones where he was alone with not a soul to be around. He would never tell Lavi or his guard, Kanda, that he couldn't survive if they weren't here with him. Allen thought Kanda was a jerk and they were always fighting. Still, deep down he cared for them and it was their company alone that kept him with his last shred of sanity.

It was times like this and many more where he misplaced his aggression and took all his anger and fear out on Lavi. Lavi usually took his abuse with good humor or ignored it as he understood Allen's upset.

"Fine." Lavi said, exaggerating a sigh, and then said what he always said. Lavi's voice softened as he smiled lightly. "But, Allen, if you ever want to talk, I'm here anytime."

For a moment, Allen's face relaxed into a half smile. "Yeah. Thanks, Lavi."

Lavi's face smiled back at him pleasantly. "Well," Lavi said, stretching his arms up over his head, "I'm going to go back to sleep. See you in the morning." He then turned on his heel and took off down the hall towards his room.

Once again alone Allen sighed lightly to himself. He felt weak for always getting so hung up on his usual nightmare. He walked out into the castle garden as he reflected on his nightmare. It was always the same one where he was cursed and left alone. That part was the same as his reality except for the part where his loyal servant and his rather annoying guard stayed.

All alone and for some reason that never becomes clear in his nightmare, Allen would become violently ill and die sprawled out in the garden that he spent so much of his time in. Even now, he stood in the very scene of his horrific, stomach-churning dream. The night was dark and only the many statues and plants shared the garden with him now. His servants were both up high in the castle sleeping soundly in their respective rooms.

Allen's eyes were rapidly adjusting to the darkness outside and was able to widen his stride without worry of bumping into anything. There were a few stone wolf statues in the garden along with several long dead bushes. (A/N: When envisioning what the other statues may look like, think Krory's Castle garden.)

Ever since the curse had been placed on him and his castle and Mater had been abandoned, it seemed impossible for anything to grow there. The whole of Mater's plants died off easily and even the animals drew back. Now all that inhabited the ruins of the former town were the occasional squirrel or other small animal foraging in the wreckage. The forest surrounding the place were also filled with dying or otherwise decaying flora and the only fauna was the most vicious kind imaginable. Wolves, rabid foxes and other nasty, violent animals stalked these woods and nothing else.

He could not leave the castle grounds, but Allen often watched from afar. It was one of the only sources of fun he had sometimes depressing though it may be. Lavi often lent Allen his telescope so that Allen could stare at the town and forest below from one of the highest balconies in his castle. Sometimes if he was lucky he would catch sight of something living, but it was usually completely quiet and barren.

Sometimes Allen would wonder what he would do if he were completely alone, but he could not bear the thought and had to distract himself somehow. Sometimes the sadness and loneliness only served to make him more bitter and angry while other times it robbed him simply of the will to do anything at all.

He was a fool and still is, he knew that, but it was just too much. It had been a long time since he wanted to love someone, not since he was a child. The more self-absorbed he'd gotten, the less he cared who he married as long as they either made him look good or helped him in some way with his lifestyle.

After the curse, he still didn't care who it was as long as they could help him. He only wanted someone, anyone, to fall in love with him because that woman said that was what was necessary. No, after he gave up the idea of anyone loving him he didn't want to be with anyone at all. He just wanted to wallow in self-pity in his big, empty home with his companions.

He never wanted to love anyone, not that he thought it was possible anyway, because he felt it was too much trouble for nothing.

_It's not worth it. _He thought as he aggressively ran his hand along one of the garden's statues trying to get some of the mold off of it. _Women, people, living, everything is just so troublesome. I don't think I could ever bring myself to love someone again. Even though I no longer love myself, I think I've forever lost the ability to completely love another. _

Allen trusted his companions and relied heavily upon their presence for his sanity and peace of mind, but that was different. He felt that somehow through it all he had lost something human in him. The part of them that all people have whether they try to or don't, whether they like it or hate it, they all have it.

_The inalienable urge to love someone and I don't have it. Besides, how could anyone ever fall for me? No one would be happy being loved by me, no one._


	4. An Unwanted Proposal

Lenalee woke up early that morning having had a surprisingly good night's sleep despite the persistent nightmare the night before. In fact, the nightmare only served to re ignite a spark in her that had been just a dull flame lately. Her thirst for something new and exciting was almost more than she could bear. Lenalee usually rolled out of bed slowly, and groggily stumbled through her morning routine. She would often have to backtrack as she would forget things, or mess up the order in which she did them, and would have to go back and then again. Yes, she wouldn't win any contests for grace and poise in the morning, but she wasn't trying to.

"This morning in particular, however, she hopped out of bed like a firecracker. She pulled on her clothes with fervor and tied her hair back hastily as she couldn't wait to get out of the house. This was again in stark contrast to how she usually was in the morning. She also put her clothes on without really caring what she was wearing. She only cared if it was functional and often had to look down in the middle of the day just to remember what she had put on that morning. This morning she relished it. She didn't have anything like a full wardrobe with a million different outfits and a million different styles in a million different colors, (I would like one of those one day ;) ) She did have quite a few cute outfits her brother had bought for her, but she had never thought she'd wear them, as she never much cared if she looked good when she went out. She mostly went out for chores and shopping, anyway. She pulled out a frilled, dark green top and an extremely short black skirt. Using two matching ribbons, she tied up her long hair into two side ponytails. _Yes_, she thought in satisfaction while looking at herself in the mirror. I certainly feel good. Very good. I think this is going to turn out to be a wonderful day. Smiling at this thought, she went downstairs to see her brother.

"Her brother was cooking again and usually Lenalee would be upset with him for wasting food and money, but this morning she was in too good of a mood for that. "Morning, Brother," Lenalee said in a singsong voice as she slipped into the kitchen. "Oh, good morning, Lenalee," Komui said happily turning his head slightly to look at her. Giving a slight, but contented smile and receiving one from Lenalee in return, Komui turned his head back to the kitchen stove. Lenalee walked up to where her brother was and peered over his shoulder to see that he was making eggs... or what used to be eggs before her brother macerated them. "Lets have breakfast together today," Lenalee proposed which surprised Komui. Usually Lenalee would make breakfast and then Lenalee would eat in the kitchen quickly and get on with her chores at a surprising speed and Komui would bring his breakfast up to his office and eat it there while he worked. While Lenalee was always rather busy with shopping and chores, cooking and house cleaning, this was nothing compared to how busy Komui usually was. Bills and taxes were only a fraction of the paperwork and files he had to do. Komui was one of the chief scientists in the Science Department, the only place for scientific experiments and advancements in town. He didn't invent many things as part of his job, but mainly supervised and dealt with the legal end of things. As a result, his office was always a mess of files, books and manuals. Lenalee rarely asked to eat breakfast together because she knew how busy he was and hated to trouble him. Bouncing back from his apparent shock at Lenalee's unexpected request, Komui smiled softly and answered in almost inaudible words. "Alright, let's eat together today then." If Lenalee hadn't been right behind him still looking over his shoulder, she wouldn't have heard him. "So may I ask why you're so excited this morning?" Komui asked sipping his coffee and picking up his fork. "What do you mean?" Lenalee asked. She figured she was happier than normal, but she didn't think she was acting that different. Komui broadened his smile. "You haven't asked me to eat with you in a long time. Aside from that, you seem to be smiling quite a bit more than normal." "Oh." Lenalee said quietly, thinking about the aforementioned behaviors. "Just had a nice dream, I suppose," she said vaguely, but confidently so as to put an end to the conversation. "I see. I'm glad then," Komui said, refocusing on his meal.

"After breakfast Komui went up to his office to work and Lenalee cleared the table and cleaned the dishes. Once she was done with that, she headed out for a while. She decided to go walking around town and maybe window shop a little. She could use a little break and a lot of relaxation. She didn't take time for herself very often. Mainly this was because she felt useless if she spent too much time doing nothing, but she always had things to do anyway so it all worked out. She started by passing a few stores and looking at the scenery. She was so engrossed in viewing the town that she didn't even notice the man behind her until it was too late. "Good morning, my dear." The calm voice came from behind her. A hand rested gently on her shoulder from behind. After the initial shock, Lenalee easily realized who it was even before they stepped out in front of her from behind. "Oh… Hello, Lord Tyki Mikk," Lenalee said trying to convey her agitation and disappointment at seeing him through her voice and the look on her face. She was irritated having been interrupted when she was enjoying her walk and when she was in such a good mood, too. However, in just the first second of seeing Tyki, Lenalee's brilliant mood easily became dark. Tyki easily recognized how he made her feel, but as he had business with her and not being one that is easily dissuaded, he put on his best and most charming smile acting as if he had no clue that his presence was bothering her. "I was looking for you," he said in a voice like silk. Though it didn't seem to calm Lenalee any as she immediately started inching away from him. Reaching out his hand and lightly grabbing her wrist, he quickly closed the distance she had made between them. I have something I wish to ask you." He continued in a mildly more serious tone. Lenalee was starting to get worried. "O-oh, really?" Lenalee asked trying to contain her worry. "Yes and it is of a quite serious nature," he said and with that, began lightly tugging Lenalee by the arms. "Wait! Hold on a second!" Lenalee cried out desperately trying to assess the situation. There was nothing that could stop him now that he had gotten wrapped up in the moment. He continued to pull her along with him as he took off. All Lenalee could do was worry as she was dragged off with him to some unknown location.

"Here we are." Tyki said as he stopped and finally removed his arms from Lenalee's wrist. He had brought her to the center of town by a beautiful fountain. This area was popular for fun and recreation as well as shopping and because of the history and beauty of the town center, many couples come here on dates. "What's this about…?" Lenalee started, but before she could get another word out, Tyki had knelt before her and reached into his pocket. "Lenalee Lee," He began locking his confident eyes with her worried and surprised ones. "Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" He brought out a ring and held it up to Lenalee so she could see it clearly. The ring was expensive and beautiful. Likely the most expensive ring he could buy in their small town home. Along with it wrapped around his palm was the bracelet she had wanted. She looked at him wondering how he knew about it only to see his knowing smile or perhaps it was a smirk. This look, which she had rarely seen on him, gave her a bad feeling. He had to have been watching her to know that. By this time, everyone in the crowded square had stopped and watched. Many looked happily upon them as if witnessing a touching moment, but all Lenalee felt was her blood freezing. She didn't want this. "No!" She cried out in anger, covering her teary eyes. "I will not marry you! I will never marry you!" With tears running down her cheeks, she turned and ran from the scene leaving behind a dazed Tyki who was still kneeling. He caught the pitying looks from the crowd as they became embarrassed and dispersed. Once alone, Tyki stood up slowly, clutching his marriage offerings in a death grip. How dare she make me look like a fool? Tyki thought letting his anger consume him. She will not get away with this. She will not win. I will have Lenalee as my wife and you can bet on that!


	5. Komui Leaves

Komui had no idea why his precious little sister came home in tears that afternoon. She had burst through his office door crying her eyes out. She could barely talk as she hugged onto him seeking comfort. He had no idea what had happened and she didn't seem able to tell him so he just held her gently, softly whispering ambiguous words of comfort to her. Once she had calmed down, she explained what happened.

She quickly went over the proposal and her reaction to it even quicker, but Komui still didn't understood what happened. His sister was in tears and he was leaving later that night to go present his new propositions to the head of the Black Order. He had to be there for her, Lenalee came first.

"I'm canceling my trip." Komui said.

"No!" Lenalee said, coming out of her hysteria in that moment. "Don't let me stop you. I know this is important to you. I don't want to hold you back."

"I have to be there for my dear sister." He said back, not budging in the slightest. "I'll cancel it and stay home with you. You shouldn't be alone right now after the ordeal you've just been through."

"You could help so many people," she cried almost before the words were even out of his mouth. "And you've been so excited for it! You've worked so hard! You'll be back in a few days anyway, right? I can wait until then, I'll be fine! Please! Please go for me!"

Faced with his sister's desperate pleading, Komui gave in. "Alright, but I'll be back before you know it." Smiling at each other with all of their hearts, Komui and Lenalee enveloped each other in another hug. Through all of his affection for his sister, one major thought surfaced in his mind. _That octopus will pay._

"I'll be back before you know it. Two or three days tops." Komui called to his sister as he entered the carriage sitting down on the seat next to the door. With one hand on the door and ready to pull it closed, the other waving to his sister waiting outside their house.

"I know you will!" Lenalee said, smiling happily as if she hadn't a care in the world, but Komui knew she really didn't want to be left alone for too long. Not now. Still, he gifted her with his best smile and pulled the door shut effectively cutting him off from his precious sister for the next few days. He heaved an internal sigh. _I miss you already, Lenalee. _

The carriage pulled away leaving Lenalee in the dust, alone with their home. Komui watched through the windows as the carriage carried him through the town. After a while they began to exit the town. The carriage would have to travel for a while to get to his destination. Komui leaned back on the seat in an effort to relax, but he still kept his eyes on the passing scenery beyond the window. Not long after Lenalee came to him crying, but still insisting he leave for his trip, Komui had told her to lock herself in the house for the time being or she might run into Lord Mikk.

_So he wants to be my brother in law, huh? Not likely! _Komui was still sulking over the fact that he couldn't protect his sister. _I wasn't there for her when it happened. What kind of brother am I? _Komui thought, dejectedly. He was caught up in thoughts like that when it happened.

The carriage driver had taken a detour through a forest when the carriage's axle broke. Specifically, it was the forest that was on the edge of their village, but no one ever went into it for some reason. Maybe the reason had something to do with how creepy it looked. The woods they were in were the most decrepit Komui had ever seen (though he hadn't really seen a lot).

It was still a good few hours before night would fall, but in these woods it seemed like perpetual night. The tall, dead trees reached their barren branches up to the sky, blocking out every trace of light and plunging the area into eternal darkness. The area was cold like an icy wasteland and so quiet that even the wind dare not disturb it. The only sounds were that of dead grass crunching under Komui's feet.

"What's broken?" Komui asked as he came around to the front of the carriage. The carriage driver was on the ground in front of one of the wheels, looking at it. Komui wasn't very good with simple structures like carriages, but even he could tell that the wheel was broken beyond repair. The top half of it had broken off and and the wheel was currently hanging off of the carriage like it might break apart at any moment.

"I'm sorry," The carriage driver apologized wholeheartedly. "I thought that cutting through these woods would save more time, but I didn't expect the path to be this bad to drive on. I guess when they say 'take the road less traveled by' they weren't talking about this one." The man sighed loudly and somewhat pathetically as he finished.

Komui fixed him with a stern yet sympathetic gaze. "I can see why you might want to come this way. However, perhaps in the future you could try to think things through and foresee these issues or at least bring a spare wheel."

Looking up at him seriously, the carriage driver nodded at the suggestion.

"What's your name?" Komui asked him. The man answered immediately.

"My name is A. Krory." Komui smiled at the introduction.

"Well, Mr. Krory, I'm going to walk further through the woods and see if there is another town. Then I can buy supplies to fix the carriage or send help."

Krory stood up hurriedly. "No, sir! I cannot allow you to go alone! I will come too." Even though Krory looked so adamant, Komui tried to persuade him to stay behind saying that he should keep working on the carriage, but still Krory… "No! I cannot allow you to stalk these woods alone. Besides, there is not much else I can do with the carriage until we get the parts to fix it so there is no reason we both can't go." Krory finished.

"Alright then." Komui breathed figuring that he wasn't going to win the argument. "We'll both go then." With that, the pair began walking further into the forest in search of help.

_**~ I know the chapters in my stories don't always seem to progress quickly, but I get an A for content, right? ;) ~**_


	6. The Kidnapping of the Brother

After walking for some time, Komui and Krory came to what they figured was the edge of the forest.

"Keep up, we're almost there." Komui called to Krory who was lagging far behind him, huffing and puffing as if he were going to pass out at any moment. With his head turned towards Krory, Komui didn't see that the path he was walking ended sharply. Tripping, Komui fell off the side of a short cliff and landed on his stomach on the ground beneath it.

"A-are you alright?!" Krory cried from the edge of the cliff. Komui, who had been writhing in pain a moment ago, suddenly jumped up in embarrassment.

"Yes! I am fine. Perfectly fine." He called over his shoulder, making it a point to do a few stretches to show how fine he was.

It was then that Komui looked at what was in front of him, the city of Mater. With all of his books and research, he had of course heard of it. It was said that the city had been abandoned long ago for some unknown reason. There were stories that it was because of a monster; a great beast, but such a thing could not exist.

_No ones come here since the city was abandoned. _ _This is quite a find, but there's no chance we could find help in an empty town. _

Suddenly, a dim light in Komui's peripheral vision caught his eye. At the far end of Mater, past the rows of empty dwellings, emerged and tall, ominous castle. One of the windows near the highest peak of the castle was shrouded in light.

_The lights are on so, crazy as it seems, someone must be home._

Telling Krory to climb down carefully and follow the path that he took to the castle, Komui began the trek through the abandoned city to reach help. He had to tread carefully because the ground was littered with debri. Some of it was dangerous like nails, shards of glass and even the odd knife left in piles of discarded wood and straw. Other things on the ground were just hazards because he could trip on them much too easily. Even when being careful he managed to stumble over things more than he should though he managed not to fall over anything and tumble onto the ground.

It was a while before he reached the gates of the castle. They were large brass gates that had been weathered and worn, but it still seemed to Komui as if they had been cleaned and polished recently. This only made him more certain that he was right about someone living in the castle. The gates were hanging open and he easily pushed them aside more so that he may gain entrance.

Glancing up, he thought he saw a shadow move across one of the windows on the second floor, but it moved so quickly and fluidly as if it were a flash of light and Komui quickly dismissed it. Going through the garden, he had no idea that he was being watched from the shadows. A stealthy creature on the sidelines watching him carefully being ready to judge exactly when he's gone too far. Komui was making his way to the door to knock when he caught something out of the corner of his eyes.

It was a rose bush, he had seen them before, but none like this one. It grew so many roses on just the one bush that it seemed more like a tall pile of rose buds. Even though everything in the empty city was dead and without light, these roses were utter perfection. Complete perfection as far as the eye could see, they were big and vibrantly colored with not a sign anywhere that they had been damaged or gnawed by insects in any way. Each one was just as beautiful as the next and Komui was soon entranced by them.

Allowing himself to be drawn away from his path towards the door of the castle, Komui stopped in front of the amazing flowers. Yes, upon further study he could tell that they were flawless. Excited by the thought that he had never seen anything so precious in his life and wishing to give one to his lovely sister, he reached his hand out slowly as if possessed and plucked a flower.

He brought his prize to his chest and began to maneuver it into his coat pocket. No sooner had he made to pocket it then he heard a horrifying growling coming from behind him. He turned around only to be thrown twenty feet into the side of the castle.

"Ack!" Komui felt like he was coughing up a lung as he struggled to open his eyes much less stand after the force of the impact. _What was that?_ The panicked thought reached his head as he felt cold claws wrapping around his neck to hold him to the wall. Opening his eyes, he was greeted with a terrifying as well as confusing sight.

In front of his face holding him to the wall was a young man or what must have been a young man. The boy had gray eyes and the frostiest white hair Komui had ever seen. His face was young and would have quite pretty if it was so frighteningly twisted into a mask of such irrepressible rage. He had a grotesque, red scar running down his face and over one eye. It even ran over the eyelid. The arm pinning him to the wall exerting an almost inhuman strength, was a giant claw just as silver as his eyes. His other arm was normal enough, but was fisted tight in anger.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded, angrily.

At first, Komui didn't say anything. It wasn't that the boy was holding his neck too tightly for him to speak, he just couldn't find the words through all the shock.

"What are you doing here? Answer me!" The boy yelled in his face, becoming angrier with Komui's silence. He had to do something or who knows what the little psycho would do. Komui tried to channel his inner politician and make his voice sound calm and sincere.

"Hello," Komui cleared his throat in an effort to get the shaking out of his voice. "My name is Komui. What a lovely home you have here." _Damn! That last part sounded pathetic and stupid. _

The look on the boy's face became even more hostile if that were even possible.  
"You stole from me!" The boy cried, a feral look in his eyes. It took Komui a long moment to realize what he was talking about, but when he did, he paled visibly.

"What? Oh, this?" Komui smiled nervously as he extracted the single rose from his pocket and held it up between them. "I only picked one small flower. It was so beautiful, I couldn't help myself." He tried to sound light-hearted to calm the monstrous child, but it did nothing to help as the "boy" let out another chillingly horrendous growl.

"You stole it!" He accused, his animalistic eyes boring into Komui's.

"I didn't know it meant that much to you, you have so many just like it. Here, I'll give it back." Komui began to panic, letting fear take over.

"You've already picked it. It's too late for that now." The boy said. His eyes and facial features lost their sheer anger only to be replaced by the coldest look Komui had ever seen on a kid. "Kanda! Lavi! Get over here and deal with this!" The boy called turning his head towards the side of the castle shrouded in shadow.

The boy pushed Komui one final time into the wall, hard, before releasing him and allowing him to fall to the ground. Scrambling through the pain to sit back up, Komui just barely saw the two forms emerging from the shadowed area as if materializing on command. Flanking him on either side, the two individuals each grabbed one of Komui's arms and hoisted him up onto his feet.

The one on his left was clearly the eldest of the three. He had long black hair tied up into a ponytail. He had a very pretty face which was marred by the stern and somewhat aggressive expression plastered across his features. On his right was a slightly shorter male with bright red hair. One of his eyes was hidden by a black eyepatch while the other one showed a vibrant green color.

"You called?" The red-headed individual asked. He seemed to be trying to sound amused, but his eyes held so much seriousness.

"Put him in the dungeon and leave him there to rot." The boy said before turning on his heels and walking off. Komui was in shock at what he had just heard. He was so shocked he didn't even hear when Lavi spoke up.

"Isn't that a little harsh?" He shouted after the boy haltingly. The aforementioned boy stopped for a moment before speaking the words "don't question me" and then continued to walk away until he was out of sight. "Come on." Lavi sighed as he and Kanda began to drag Komui in the direction of the dungeon. This seemed to snap Komui out of his stupor as he began flailing in their arms.

"No! No! Let me go right this minute!" Komui cried hysterically.

An almost sympathetic look crossed Lavi's features though Kanda only gained an annoyed look at having to restrain Komui. "Gee, I really wish we could, believe me, but we have to do what our master tells us to." Lavi explained, strengthening his grip on Komui's arm.

"You don't understand!" Komui tried. "I have to go back to Lenalee!"

"Lena-" Kanda said in surprise.

"-lee?" Lavi finished for him, equally surprised. They hadn't expected him to have a significant other. "Who's Lenalee?" Lavi asked, trying to gain clarification.

"She's my little sister! She can't survive alone! She'll be so lost without me!" Lavi felt a pang in his chest. They were imprisoning a man in charge of his younger sibling and splitting them up. _How horrid. _He thought.

Kanda, however, had gotten over his surprise and got right back to business. "It's our orders." Kanda said simply.

"Yu…" Lavi started, but Kanda promptly silenced him.

"We can't disobey the moyashi's orders." Kanda used his nickname for Allen. These words were aimed more at Lavi than at Komui.

"I know. Your right." Lavi conceded and the two began to drag off the struggling Komui. No one noticed the frightened coachman, Krory, running from the castle back to the forest.


	7. To Mater

**Sorry for the announcement, I'll shut up soon. This is mainly for the person who reviewed this story, Melody-Rose, so if you're not them, you don't have to listen to this, but you can as this could go for anyone who cares. **

**Getting started, one: Don't worry, I'll continue the stories. I love writing more than anything, so if I ever stop them I'm dead or in a coma. Seriously, I love it so much, even if I'm incapacitated, I'll dictate the story to someone who will write it down ^.^. **

**Two: Melody-Rose said that they could not find a single finished version of Beauty &amp; Beast anywhere and I know what they mean. I don't know if this is something you're interested in or have already seen, but just in case, I found a set of stories called D Gray Man Fairy Tales Anthology that has a story in there about beauty and the beast. It's d gray man and its finished so maybe you'd like to search the name or type this link into your web browser? (**** /s/5894314/1/D-GrayMan-Fairy-Tales-Anthology****) **

**Alright, sorry. Onto the story! 0.0**

* * *

It had been several days since her brother left and he had yet to return. He had not even sent word of how he was doing or explaining his absence. At first, Lenalee was angry with him, but now she was just worried. She was in the living room staring at the door when it happened.

_If only he would come through the door now, I would forgive the worry he caused me. _She thought desperately. At that moment there was a loud, fervent knocking on the door.

"Brother?" She cried hopefully and running to the door and wrenching it open. What she opened the door to caused her great alarm.

The man who was driving the carriage that took her brother away, Krory, she remembered, was now kneeling on her doorstep. It looked as if it had taken every ounce of strength he had to knock on the door. His face and clothes were scratched and dirty. There were tear stains on his cheeks and snot oozing out of his nose. Overall, he looked pitiful and tortured.

"Oh, my! Are you alright?!" Lenalee pulled the man to his feet and helped him into the house. She was just about to attend to his wounds after placing him on the couch when his shock seemed to wear off.

"Ms. Lee!" He cried, grabbing her hand in a comforting gesture. "Your brother!" A cold chill swept through Lenalee at his words.

"What? What about my brother?" She prodded desperately.

"He went to this house. For help. A great castle." His words were spaced out and he spoke with short sentences. There was a child. A beast! He took your brother. Locked him away somewhere, I don't know where." The man started to seem more coherent. He began to cry.

"Oh, no! Brother…" Lenalee whimpered covering her mouth as tears began to spill down her cheeks.

"I ran through those treacherous woods all the way back here. I thought you deserved to know. Mr. Lee won't be coming back." He finished.

"Oh…" Lenalee realized that his coming back through the woods explained why he was so scratched up. "Please take me to my brother!" Lenalee threw herself at Krory.

"W-what?! Ms. Lee, it's too dangerous! I can't take you there!"

"I can't leave my brother there! Please!" Lenalee begged harder.

Krory couldn't stand the pleading look and steeled himself. "Yes. Fine, then. I will take you to the place where I last saw your brother, but I will not go too close to the castle."

Lenalee's face visibly relaxed. "Thank you, Mr. Krory. Thank you…" She sobbed into his arm which she had wrapped herself around.

After she had pulled herself together quite some time later, she cleaned and bound up his wounds. They both rested and later that night, they set out for the woods and the abandoned city. Before they had set out on their short journey, Krory needed to go out and commission a new carriage. This he could do with ease, but it would take a little bit of time so Lenalee stayed back at the house and waited.

While she waited, she went into her brother's office to look around for anything that may be useful. She found it in the form of a map and a book in one of his desk drawers. The map wasn't anything special. It was just an average map showing their town and some of the other towns or roads surrounding it.

However, the forest on the edge of their little village had always been some kind of mystery to her. Whether it was because there wasn't much known about it at all or if it was simply because there wasn't a wealth of reading material in their town, she really didn't know which. This map had the forest which didn't seem to have a name and beyond the forest was just a blank area. What seemed strange to Lenalee was not that Krory had talked about not just a whole town, a castle that was supposed to be in the blank area, but that the blank area had a name. Over the blank area, in heavy, dark lettering was the name "Mater".

_Mater? I think I've heard of that before. _Lenalee was almost inexplicably reminded of her brother as she thought about this name to a place she didn't know she knew. _Oh, I remember now! It was a story my brother told me when I was little. _Lenalee thought back to a time when she was a kid and having trouble going to sleep. Komui had offered to tell her a story.

*Flashback* "_So do you want to hear a true story or a made-up story?" Komui asked, sitting on the edge of Lenalee's bed. _

"_A true story!" Lenalee's small voice perked up instantly. _

"_Alright." Komui smiled. "I'll tell you the legend of Mater." "Meh-ter?" Lenalee asked, trying to pronounce the name. _

"_Nope. Mater. Try again." Komui urged. Lenalee opened her mouth. _

"_M-Mater…" _

"_You got it!" Komui said, his smile broadening. "Now onto the story. That is, if you still want to hear it…" _

"_Of course I do!" Lenalee cried, not seeing the sneaky smile on her brother's face. _

"_Just checking." He chuckled. "There was once a powerful city called Mater. It was home to many people of noble blood and homes definetly worth admiring. It had a bustling trade industry and even some royalty. But the city became shrouded in a darkness that cannot be described. Next thing you know, everyone packs up and moves out of the town, though outsiders don't really know why everyone had to leave. _

_People who used to live in the town were sometimes asked after they had moved somewhere else. They were all vague with their answers, but they all admitted that the town had been cursed and that a monster stalked the area. A deformed creature with the body of a human, but gnarled deformities, scales and razor sharp claws." _

"_So the monster scared them away?" Lenalee asked, leaning forward. _

"_Perhaps the story of the monster did. Either way, everyone living there fled and no one ever came back and people were too afraid to talk about it. Hence, the place was forgotten and anybody who knows about it or wrote about it, refers to it as the Abandoned City." _

"_Do you think there really was a monster?" Lenalee asked curiously. _

"_Me? No. I believe that they believed it and with ancient superstitions they probably had reasons to think that." _

"_That's so cool! I wanna see the abandoned city too!" Komui put his hand on her head. _

"_Its now become a forgotten place. Some people know of it, but don't even believe the city existed." _

"_I believe it existed and I'm gonna see it one day." Lenalee said. _

"_I'm sure you will." Komui placated rubbing her head softly. It was with this soft, sweet feeling that little Lenalee went to sleep. *End Flashback*_

It was real. The city and it's infamous monster were real and her brother was being held hostage there. Though she knew this in her heart, Lenalee couldn't believe it. However, Lenalee soon had to put her worry and inner turmoil aside as it was not long after that Krory came back with the new carriage and they were off to save her brother.

Lenalee stumbled precariously through the woods, getting more and more irritated. It seemed as if her dress was getting caught on every branch in the forest.

"Only a little farther, Ms. Lee." Krory promised as he helped her to, yet again, untangle her dress from the foliage.

"Thank you." She said as they continued their trek.

Soon they came to the edge of a cliff. Lenalee couldn't see it at first, but Krory insisted it was there. She obliged by proceeding carefully. According to Krory, her brother didn't see the cliff either and ended up tumbling down it and that was how the two were separated. Because she was looking hard for it, Lenalee was able to spot the cliff before she made the same mistake as her brother. Together with Krory, Lenalee climbed down the side of the cliff to the safety of the ground below. Apparently, this is how Krory did it last time after Komui fell and continued on ahead.

It was when they started making their way through the desolate city towards the looming castle that Lenalee felt the strangest bout of deja vous. Racking her brain, she looked carefully around at her surroundings before resting her eyes on the castle.

_I've seen this place before. _She staring up at the windows of the castle, two of which were brightly lit. The dream she had almost a week ago comes to her. _This is the place from my dream. I remember the town and the forest and especially this castle. _

A shudder ran through her body as she replayed the dream in her mind. The wandering in the woods, looking out at the mysterious town and it's castle and then falling off of the cliff she hadn't seen. Krory urged her forward and although she tried to focus on continuing to move, she couldn't help but ponder on if her dream was a premonition...or if maybe she had made this happen somehow.

She bit her bottom lip at that thought. Maybe this is what she got for wishing for change and adventure and for so much more as long as it wasn't part of her everyday life. Maybe if she had been content with what she had as she had sometimes thought she should be, then this wouldn't have happened and her brother wouldn't have had to go through such a frightening experience.

_At any rate, I woke up without getting to explore this place properly. _Lenalee thought trying to cheer herself up, but the thought ended up rather sad. _I'm only getting what I asked for. _Her stomach clenched at this and she pushed forward.

As they came to the large gate of the castle, Krory stopped walking. Realizing that Krory was not following, Lenalee stopped too and turned back to look at him.

"Mr. Krory?" She called. "I'm sorry, Ms. Lee," Krory said, looking truly sorry. "but I told you I'd take you up to the castle and I did. I won't go any further, but I wish you good luck!" He threw the last sentence over his shoulder as he turned and ran off back the way they came.

Now alone, Lenalee paused as the fear and worry that she had been barely able to suppress when she was with Krory now rising to the surface now that she was alone. She took a deep breath and turned back to the gates. They were wide and large, but hung open slightly. Parted in the middle just enough for her to walk through comfortably.

Moving through the dark (if not, chilling) garden, Lenalee walked up the few short steps of the surprisingly polished polished marble stairs to the door. It was a slightly bigger than average door made of strong wood and supplemented with iron. It seemed sturdy and well-kept for such a deteriorated atmosphere. She raised her hand up to the heavy-looking door knocker which was in the shape of a rather terrifying and snarling lion. Getting a good hold on the heavy thing, she brought it down on the door.

* * *

**This was mostly a chapter to tie up loose ends, so to speak. To, of course, get on with the rather small and irritating (to me, anyway), but still very important part where the witness to the kidnapping or whatever goes and tells Beauty so she has a reason to go to the scary castle. ;)**

**Also, I wanted to tie everything together, you know, with the childhood memory of the story and the recent dream and the town and whatnot. I thought it would be strange if people on the outside so long after it happened actually knew about the curse or the prince or anything like that so I put the childhood bedtime story in more as a way to show what the popular conception of the town and the curse was. Hope you like it and didn't get lost, if you did, I'm sorry...)0o0**


	8. The Deal

**So in this one, I switch POVs pretty frequently. I think this is one of the most important parts of the story for me. (Disclaimer: I believe that all parts of every story are important and should not be left out as they show personal and interpersonal growth.) **

**I think because they are meeting for the first time, it's so dramatic and because it is in a way such a sad and dark moment for everyone, but at the same time is the first spark of hope and change is just precious. Anyways, I wanna show the thought processes and growth of a few people at different moments. Thank you for your time and plz review. 0,0**

* * *

Lavi was busy polishing the silverware when it happened. A loud knocking ran through the room.

_It has to be coming from the front door! No, it must be something else. No one comes here… _During that last thought, Lavi glanced over in the direction of the dungeon where they were keeping the man that came a few days ago. _Maybe...maybe someone really is here. Gah! _

Lavi realized that if it was true and he heard the knocking, Allen probably did too. Not wanting a repeat of what happened with the last visitor, Lavi dropped what he was doing and raced towards the front door, but he was too late. He entered the main room with just enough time to see the door swing open and hid in a corner.

"Hello?" A feminine voice called into the room. Lavi watched as the slim figure of a of a girl a little younger than himself slid into the room. The room was dimly lit with only a few candles and the moonlight sweeping in from the open doorway to go by, but Lavi could tell that she was extremely beautiful. Her pigtails swayed as she as she turned around to close the door and then continued into the room.

_Wow. She's cute. _Lavi thought. _But what is a girl like that doing here?_ His thoughts were interrupted as the girl called out.

"Brother! Brother, are you here?"

_Brother?_ Lavi thought, confused as she walked towards the stairs. _Oh, holy shit!_ Lavi realized that their prisoner said he had a sister. She must be his sister coming to find him. _Lenalee, right? I gotta stop her before Master..._

Suddenly, he felt a chill behind him. Turning his head quickly, he saw that Allen stood behind him, a stern look on his face. "I'll be following her. Stay at attention. I'm sure I'll be calling you shortly."

"Master..." Lavi pleaded with his eyes, but Allen paid it no mind.

"You are my servant and you shall do as I say without question."

"Yes..." Lavi seceded.

**(Allen POV...Allen POV...Allen POV)**

With that, Allen turned towards the stairs Lenalee walked up, his white cape flapping wildly behind him. Allen proceeded to follow Lenalee throughout the mansion. She was clearly looking for her brother. Hearing her calling over and over again, Allen felt he would have had to be an idiot if he didn't understand that. He also figured that she was calling to the ass currently locked up in a cell in the dungeon. _Maybe I should lock her up for a while. That would really make that jerk who stole my flower suffer. _

Even Allen wasn't too keen on torturing a young girl who, by the way, hadn't done much to upset him besides wandering his home without his permission. _Heh. She's nowhere near the cells. _Allen chuckled darkly to himself. They spent a few minutes like this. Lenalee would walk around, desperately looking for her brother and Allen would stealthily follow her without being seen.

**(Lenalee POV...Lenalee POV)**

Lenalee walked down the stairs she had climbed not too long ago, feeling discouraged. She couldn't find a trace of her brother and she began to feel as if she might cry. She could feel the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. When she got down to the bottom floor, she saw a door in the corner of the room she hadn't seen before. The bottom foot or two of the door was sunken into the floor or so it appeared.

Really, the cement ends sharply just before the door and delves down. The floor ends so close to the door, you can't even step down to the new floor level before opening the door. Lenalee had to open it and then leap onto the new floor in the doorway to find the room to stand comfortably. The door was sitting in a corner shrouded in shadow and considering the door itself was made of a strikingly dark wood, Lenalee wasn't surprised she didn't notice it when she came in. She didn't know how she saw it at all.

"B-Brother?" Lenalee called hesitantly as she ventured inside the room, the door left open behind her.

"Lenalee?" A hoarse cry rang through the small room. It was so dark, that except for a candle burning on a table outside one of the cells, she couldn't see anything. The light only reached a few feet in any direction before petering out. She could only tell the room was small because of how their voices sounded in the room.

"Brother!" Lenalee cried, running to the cell by the candle and holding her brother's hands through the bars. "What happened to you? Who put you in here? You look awful!"

Komui's terrified voice broke through Lenalee's worried one. "You have to leave now!"

"What?" Komui grabbed her hands tighter in fear. "You have to go before he finds you!"

"Who? Before who finds me?" Lenalee heard a slight sound of something moving near the door. She turned to the door, not seeing anything strange except... "Didn't I leave that door open?" The door was closed. Due to the situation, Lenalee wrote it off as nothing and turned back to her brother. "Who?" She demanded again.

"T-The master of the castle..." He said fearfully, the panic in his features growing.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Lenalee and spun her around so she was facing the other direction. Lenalee found herself face to face with a teenage boy around her age. He was standing in a dark corner and she could barely see his form and face.

"What are you doing here?!" He yelled showing pure anger and hatred. Lenalee recoiled for a moment, but stood strong to protect her brother.

"You locked up my brother! Why did you do this?" She cried at him. The boy was taken aback, but was easily fueled by his anger and continued in that way.

"He was stealing from me!"

"It was just a flower!" Komui desperately interjected from the cell.

"It was stealing! They were important and they were mine!" Allen barked, barely letting Komui finish.

"Let him go! Keeping here in a place like this...he'll die!" Lenalee begged, fearing for her brother.

Upon hearing this, the boy looked back at the girl. "Serves him right, then." A dark smirk spread across the boy's face. Lenalee recoiled a little. She wasn't used to seeing a person act this way, so angry and scary.

"What would you benefit from this?" She tried to find a foothold.

"I'll get satisfaction out of it." The boy stated, unashamedly. "He'll stay here and maybe die and pay for his thievery and trespassing." He turned to leave. "You better leave now and as quickly as you can or I might do the same to you."

"There must be something I could do..." Lenalee let out sadly as a thought struck her.

**(Allen POV...Allen POV...Allen POV)**

"There must be something I could do..."

Allen heard the small, sad voice from behind him as he made his way to the door.

_This girl never gives up. Doesn't she understand that there is nothing she can do to help the thief she calls Brother? _

"Wait!" She called from behind him.

_Never gives up... _Allen thought, exasperatedly. It was only due to some amount of curiosity that Allen stopped to hear what she had to say now. _This ought to be good. _Allen thought that, but he was surprised by what he heard next.

"Let me take his place."

_What? _

"Come again?" Allen asked, trying to conceal the brunt of his surprise and turning around slowly to face her. She stood straight and glared at him like a fire had been lit in her. Allen could feel newfound respect for her growing inside him.

"Keep me as your prisoner in place of my brother."

"..." Allen didn't say anything for a while, surprised at the offer.

_She would do that to protect him? Would she really go that far or is she not really planning on going through with it? _

Finally, he spoke. "And why, exactly, do you think that I would permit that?"

"An eye for an eye, right? One prisoner is as good as the next as long as you get your precious payment for your troubles, correct?" The girl asked and Allen had to admit she made a good argument. She'd convinced him, anyway.

"No, Lenalee! You can't!" His current prisoner cried trying to reach his sister from his cell, to no avail.

_So her name is Lenalee...that's rare, but kinda nice. _

"So do we have a deal?" Lenalee asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"If you promise to stay here forever," Allen said, carefully. "and never leave or try to escape, I will send your brother away and allow you to take his place." He secretly searched her face, still unsure and trying to read her expression. He was still hidden in the shadows away from the candle so this was hard. Lenalee paused, craned her neck and squinted her eyes. She was trying to get a look at him. She was realizing he wasn't normal!

"Would you please...come into the light?" She asked, looking to him questioningly. The question startled him. He was more surprised that she had asked him to show himself so bluntly instead of trying to sneak a peek. Slowly, almost against his will, his body moved into the lighted area. His monstrous, robotic arm and scar becoming clearly visible.

**(Lenalee POV...Lenalee POV)**

Lenalee gasped at the sight. He still seemed like a boy her age, but his appearance was horrible. He looked like a monster that had been made by putting scrap pieces of bodies together. He had a huge arm that was silver and looked mechanic, maybe steel. And when she says huge, she means huge. Starting at the shoulder, it got wider until it came to the hand which was about four times the size of his head. He was barely refraining from dragging it across the floor by hovering a few inches above it.

His hand wasn't really even a hand, it had five long, metallic, razor sharp claws on it that she could imagine could cut through a full grown man too easily. These claws alone would be enough to make one shudder. On the back of the horrifying hand was an embedded cross. He had a hideous scar that started as a pentacle (the thought of demon came to mind) and ran through his eye, down his cheek and to the base of his chin, curving horribly at the end. It ran the entire length of that side of his face.

His hair was so silver it could be white and was matted and messy probably due to his fit of rage. His eyes matched, though they seemed like slits, that could be only because of the feral rage he still seemed to have. His anger, however, seemed to dissipate with her offer and, in it's place, the boy seemed to fall into polite and almost regal mannerisms. Gaining confidence from this fact, she opened her mouth with whatever of her remaining confidence she could manage and spoke.

"I'll take his place. It's a deal, then."


	9. They Meet

"Deal!" The almost feral boy growled. "Lavi, get in here!" As soon as he'd yelled, a young man also around Lenalee's age rushed through the door at his master's call.

"Yeah, Allen?" The redhead asked, breathlessly. Lenalee couldn't help wondering if he ran all the way there.

"It's master right now." The strange boy huffed. If she hadn't been so afraid of him at the moment, Lenalee might have thought he resembled a pouting child. "This girl will stay here as my prisoner." Allen gestured towards Lenalee as he said that.

Immediately, Lavi thought his fear had come true and his master/friend had decided to lock up the trespassing girl. "No, master! Not her too! You already have your sacrifice!" He threw a panicked look at Komui.

"Bite your tongue!" Allen hissed, stopping the older teen's rant. It was rare to see Allen that angry and even Lavi, who specialized in pushing people to the breaking point, knew better than to push the matter.

Seeing his hesitance, Allen continued. "You know nothing. She did it of her own free will. She offered to stay here if I would let her take her brother's place and let him go and I agreed."

Lavi's eyes grew wider as he stared at his master and then turned that gaze towards Lenalee and stared at her. He'd thought that she looked so sweet and fragile, and though it seemed like she were, there was something else there as well. A hidden strength and determination that was clearly enough to convince her to trade herself over to his master in return for their prisoner.

He prided himself on being observant and yet he'd completely misjudged her, labeling her fragile when the steel in her eyes now told him she was anything but. He had no more time to think as his attention was drawn sharply back to Allen who was trying to get the redhead's attention by giving him a nasty glare that could easily rival kanda's.

"You and Kanda will take her brother and give him to Timcampy, he'll then be taken out of the forest."

As that was said, Kanda too materialized from somewhere and began to roughly open the cell Komui was in and wrench it open. Kanda was quietly seething that he had to unlock, open and lock someone in the cell twice in such a small amount of time. Both Lavi and Kanda proceeded to drag a screaming, struggling Komui out of the prison and into the backyard.

"Don't worry about Lenalee." Lavi said once they were outside and heading towards Timcampy. He recalled the girl's name from their former conversation with his excellent memory (not that he likes to brag, mind you). Timcampy was a giant, scary monster golem that was important to their master. He was best described as a huge, winged golden ball with rows of jagged teeth when his mouth was open.

Komui was already struggling violently (though, again, uselessly), but when Timcampy came into view he really freaked out. "No! No! What is that thing?!" Komui screeched, his voice going a few octaves higher than Lavi and Kanda were comfortable with.

"Timcampy." Kanda said, gruffly. "He'll take you home." It was a sad attempt at calming the frightened man, but it was a stretch for Kanda.

"No! My dear Lenalee!" Komui protested until he was flung by both servants up against the golden ball. Without wasting a second, Timcampy opened his mouth full of razor teeth and ate Komui. "Help! Let me out!" Komui's muffled cries came from inside Timcampy's mouth accompanied by fervent struggles to get loose. Carrying the scientist in his mouth, Timcampy took off towards the woods surrounding Mater.

Going back to Allen, Lavi was greeted by a sad sight. Lenalee was in the corner of the prison sobbing into her hands and Allen stood off to the side with a somewhat troubled expression and a thinly veiled concern emanating from him. Of course, you'd have to know Allen well to recognize it.

After they'd gotten rid of the brother, Kanda had went to do his usual which was isolating himself in his room. This meant that Lavi was left to clean up the wreckage by himself. Knowing Allen, the boy was too young and had too little empathy to know how to properly diffuse the situation.

Creeping over to his friend, Lavi hesitantly whispered into his ear. "I know she's a prisoner and she took her brother's place, but...would it be so terrible to offer her a room to stay in instead of this drab place?"

Allen growled in contemplation.

"C'mon, she's a lady. She can't be forced to stay here. Be a gentleman." With Lavi's insistence, Allen got up the nerve to ask. Would you believe he was nervous? His anger had long since dissolved and after watching the girl cry so pitifully, the beginnings of guilt began to show itself in him.

As he drew closer, he felt even less like he could talk to her. Looking at her now, he saw just how truly beautiful she really was. She had black hair with a greenish tint tied up in two pigtails. Some people might find that look childish on a girl her age, but it was that very thing that he thought was so cute and it suited her well.

Her eyes were a deep purple, but held a brightness in them that shined like a jewel. Overall, they each reminded him of an amethyst. Though red now and glistening with tears, they were no less amazing. Her face was flushed and her cheeks tear-stained, but she was still the picture of youth.

Drawing in a breath, he acquired a rather somber look and approached the heaving girl. He cleared his throat to get her attention. Lenalee's eyes shot up and narrowed at him in anger, irritation and a decent amount of fear. He could feel a lump forming in his throat. He felt like turning back and asking Lavi to do it for him and leave, but he had his pride. He wasn't about to run away and he wasn't used to showing how much he cares about things.

Putting on a mask of indifference, Allen spoke. "Come with me. Be good and I'll take you to your room." His mask almost fell apart when her upset expression turned into one of surprise. "I get a room?" She mumbled just loud enough for someone to hear if they were paying attention. "But I thought..." "That you would have to stay in here since you're a prisoner?" Allen finished for her. Lenalee gave a slight but quick nod. ""I won't make you leave if you don't want to..." He said, discretely teasing her. "No!" She interrupted, startling him with her sudden loudness and vigor.

With no more words between them, Lenalee stood up and Allen walked her out of the prison. They passed Lavi without even a second glance at him even as he turned to watch them leave. They were too preoccupied with their own little world to bother with anything else, he noticed. "Maybe there is a hope for love yet." Lavi mused, leaving and closing the door behind him. He didn't need to lock it, they had no prisoners.

**(Lenalee POV...Lenalee POV)**

Lenalee was walking through the halls of the mansion with her head down, staring at the floor. She was currently following the monstrous boy whom she had promised to stay with forever. She didn't trust herself to look at him and not cry...again. She lost her brother and her freedom all in one night. She'd been sure she was going to be locked up in a cell, but, surprisingly, the 'boy' was now taking her to the room she'll be staying in. She just couldn't understand why he was doing it.

_Why? _She thought. _Why isn't he leaving me alone in that dark room? _

By all logic, he should have left her. He was a monster. Why would he care about her? Although, Lenalee knew she shouldn't complain when someone does something nice for her. Her parents and brother didn't raise her to be so peevish.

Suddenly, she ran into something hard. If she had been walking faster she could have really hurt herself, but as she was walking slowly while her mind wandered, she only got a slight bump. Rubbing her forehead lightly, she glanced up to see one of the hallways many pillars.

_I ran into a pillar...how silly._ Lenalee thought, sadly.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked.

_When did he come over? _

"Um...I'm fine, Mr..." She realized belatedly that she really didn't know his name though she thought she heard it mentioned at some point.

"Allen Walker." The boy filled in.

"I'm fine, Mr. Walker." Lenalee said, shying away. Even though he wasn't trying to hurt or yell at her, she was terrified of him and his appearance.

"You should be more careful." Allen said, harshly. Nodding, she waited until Allen resumed walking and fell into step behind him. "We're here." Allen announced, stopping at the end of the hall in front of the last room.

The doors to the room were white and reached almost halfway to the very high ceiling. Elegant crown molding went along the edges. They were so classy and elegant and vibrant. Compared to the rest of the mansion, they were very out of place. Though large and expensive-looking, the castle was dark and dreary and lacked the lively feeling that every castle should have. It wasn't really a place that someone would feel lucky to be staying in.

"This will be your room." The white haired boy added for clarification seeing that the girl just stood there silent and wide-eyed.

"Oh...uh, yes!" She cried, reaching for the door, but Allen held up his hand to stop her. He reached and took each handle into one of his hands and threw them open in one elegant movement.

"You...will join me for dinner! That is not an option!" With that, he half-pushed half-threw Lenalee into the room and slammed the doors closed before he was gone in the blink of an eye.


	10. The Boy Also Plays

Once alone there was nothing to hold her back and Lenalee began to cry. Leaning against the door and sobbing into her hands, the weight of everything that had happened finally hit her. The strength in her legs left and she slid down to the floor.

Lenalee hugged her legs to her chest and cried into them, drowning out the rest of the world. It took a long time and the door jerking violently for her to realize that someone had been knocking and was now trying desperately to get in.

**(Lavi POV...Lavi POV...Lavi POV)**

Lavi walked down the hall at a leisurely pace. Though he had a destination (and an important one at that), his head moved from side to side taking in every detail of the hallway as if he didn't already have it memorized. Even though he was going somewhere at that moment, it was his job to keep the place tidy and he did it well.

He was gifted with a photographic memory and an innate ability to notice small, insignificant things in great detail. This meant that he was known for inspecting a room and clearing it of any undesirables within a minute. The castle was dark and cursed, but not unclean.

Finally, Lavi arrived at his destination, the grand room that was to be Lenalee's. He was to visit her for two reasons (that he would admit to). Allen had told him to go and make sure Lenalee had something to wear when she met him for dinner. Lavi was also worried about her and how she was taking all of the changes.

Of course, he did have a hidden reason as well (this is Lavi we're talking about). He was insanely curious to see what Lenalee was like. A girl so tough as to make the journey to Mater and brave enough to take the place of someone she loved in the castle. He raised his fist to the door and knocked excitedly.

After a moment of waiting, he knocked again and again and again. When he had been knocking for a while, he began to get worried and tried to open the door. His attempts were quickly met with resistance and he ventured a guess that there was something blocking the door. Just as he leaned back and shoved his body into the door to try and force it open, the object was moved from the fell in and landed flat on his face.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry." A small voice mumbled from above him.

Turning his face for a better view, he was met with bright purple eyes and a feminine face looking very concerned. Hopping up like the rabbit he was, Lavi made a show of dusting himself off so the young lady would see that there was no harm done. Though she still seemed concerned, she visibly relaxed.

"So how are you holding up?" Lavi asked, making his way over to the wardrobe to check for the clothes.

"I'm fine." Came the hesitant reply, laced with sadness.

"That doesn't answer my question." Lavi countered as he decided not to call her out on the fact that she was clearly not fine.

Lenalee thought for a moment and she finally allowed a straight answer. "I'll adjust." She replied.

Lavi only hummed in response as he opened and began rifling through the wardrobe. It seemed to be filled with beautiful outfits made from such a quality that most noblewomen would kill for the chance to own them.

"What are you doing...?" Lenalee enquired, tilting her head to the side to get a better look at the actions of the redhead.

"Looking for the perfect outfit for you when you join the master for dinner." Lavi spoke, distractedly.

"Oh, I won't be going." She said as if it were obvious.

"Aha! Found it!" Lavi cried, holding up a semi-revealing silver/white dress that glittered like a diamond. He expected it would come down to about her mid-thigh area. "This is perfect! Kinda reminds you of the moyashi's eyes, right?" Lavi gushed, trying to put Allen in the best light.

"The moyashi?" Lenalee asked, confused about who that was.

"Oh, that's Yuu's nickname for Allen." Lenalee found that that answered one question, but left another.

"And who is Yuu?" Lenalee asked, beginning to get a headache from dealing with the overactive, under explaining redhead.

"Kanda is a servant here, the only one besides me, though he likes to be called Kanda." Lavi clarified. "Me, Yuu and Allen have been friends since we were kids. Allen really is great when you get to know him. Kanda is mainly Allen's personal guard, but he is a great cook so he makes the food. He usually refuses to feed me, though." Lavi pouted at that. "Anyways, you'll see just how good his food is at dinner tonight."

Lenalee was quiet for a moment. He was still acting as if she was going to eat with that beast. Maybe he hadn't heard her?

"I won't be eating with him." She replied, watching carefully for his reaction.

Lavi dropped the dress he was holding in surprise and looked at her. "Why? Did he do something to offend you? Is it because of his looks?"

Lenalee recoiled from the sudden burst of questions from the surprisingly agitated servant. There was a long pause in which she thought about her answer then Lenalee broke the silence. "All of the above."

**(Kanda POV...Kanda POV...Kanda POV)**

"Where is she?" Allen growled, pacing back and forth in the dining room.

"You've asked that fourteen times, stupid beansprout." Kanda stated, irritatedly as he watched Allen pace back and forth across the room tirelessly.

Kanda could not believe that he was so worked up over his prisoner coming to dinner. The baka usagi had said that she could be the one to break the curse, but he didn't really believe that. Heck, he didn't think that the moyashi believed that either, but here he was, looking like a basket case over a late dinner guest.

_My master is pathetic. _Kanda inwardly grumbled right as he realized that Allen hadn't replied to his snide comment. _And now he's ignoring me, dammit! _"Hey, beansprout!"

At that, Allen twitched and finally stopped his pacing. "What did you just call me, Bakanda?" He mumbled, darkly.

"Moyashi." "Bakanda." Both would have sworn that there was electricity going on between the two as they stared each other down with equally impressive death glares. They would have likely gone on like that if Lavi hadn't decided to descend the stairs at that moment.

"Well? Where is she? What's taking her so long?" Allen demanded from the cowering servant. Lavi didn't answer immediately. He played with his thumbs and mumbled incoherent words trying to buy himself time even though he would have to admit what he had heard at some point. "I...well, I heard...I-I heard, that is...she told me..."

"Dammit, Lavi!" Allen cried, fed up with his long-time friend's evasiveness.

He was prepared to say more, but was cut off as Lavi shouted out. "She says she's not coming!" There was a brief moment of utter silence. During this time, you could have heard a clock tick once. Then all hell broke loose.

"What?!" Allen roared with his still slightly boyish voice. "She said what?!"

"Allen, calm down! You'll give yourself a heart attack!" Lavi pleaded. Even Kanda was taken aback by the outburst and, knowing that chaos always ensued when Allen was this pissed off, he slowly inched his way to the door. Before he could make it, however, Allen stormed past him and through the doorway to the hall and up the stairs leading to Lenalee's room.

"Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohno!" Lavi cried, Greatly panicking, Lavi trailed after Allen.

Pausing for a second from the shock of it, Kanda had a slower reaction than Lavi, but he too was soon following Allen up to the girl's room. Lavi was still calling after Allen begging him to calm down and wait. Allen didn't wait, though, and began pounding on the door.

"What?" Lenalee's voice demanded from inside the room.

"Open the door!" Allen yelled, shaking the lock almost to the point of breaking it.

"No!" She refused.

"M-Maybe you should be nicer about your demands." Lavi assisted, from his position cowering beside Allen. Lavi was taller than him, but Allen was scarier than the devil when he was like this.

Allen paused for a moment and shakily slipped on his polite mask even though she couldn't see it. His voice sweet like honey, Allen repeated his wish with kinder wording.

"Please open the door so that I may ask you why you chose to not show up for dinner?"

"No!" Lenalee yelled again.

Allen couldn't hold out much longer and tried again. "But how else am I to find out why you didn't come to dinner?" He asked.

"I am not hungry! Go away!" She yelled through the door.

That was it for Allen and he flew into a rage. "If you won't open the door willingly, then I'll kick it open!" He threatened at the top of his lungs.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Lavi inquired.

"Usagi is right, Sprout." Kanda, whom neither of the two had even realized was standing behind them, tried his hand at calming Allen. "It will only ruin your relationship with her further if you break down her door."

Allen twitched for a long while, knowing that they were right and trying to control himself from losing control of himself. "Fine." He huffed, still speaking loudly. "Then she can just starve in there. If she won't eat with me, she won't eat at all!" Saying that, Allen turned, his cape swaying behind him as he dashed down the hall, not stopping once to look back.

Later that night, Lavi snuck to Lenalee's room and knocked on the door.

"Hey, Lena!" He whispered loudly. "I know Allen said you couldn't have any food and you stated that you weren't hungry, but you traveled a while to get here and you haven't had anything to eat yet. I have some leftovers from the dinner you two were supposed to have, so..." Lavi trailed off as he reached his hand out to grab the doorknob. It turned easily and the door swung open to show a darkened room with no one inside.

_Oh, boy. _Lavi worried. _She's gone! She's not in her room! She's loose! She probably ran away because of how Allen lost his temper back there! Oh, I better find her because, if I don't, how will I ever explain it to Allen? He'll take my head off! _

Wondering about where Lenalee went and worrying about his head being chopped off, Lavi hurried down the hall in search of the missing girl.

**(Lenalee POV...Lenalee POV)**

Lenalee had been walking for a few minutes now and was no closer to her goal than when she started. When she had told the beast that she wasn't hungry, that was a blatant lie. Truth was, she was starving, but she'd be damned if she were going to eat with him.

He's kidnapped her brother, held him hostage when he was sick (nearly killing him in the process) and took her prisoner. She hated him. At least, she was pretty sure she did. It didn't quite feel like how hatred should, she supposed. Certainly she hated Tyki more and he wasn't nearly as evil.

_Evil...what is evil? _She mused. Turning a corner, she saw the boy in question. He hadn't taken notice of her and was walking towards a blank wall. _What is he doing? _She wondered. A door suddenly appeared on the wall and he reached a gloved hand out to open it.

The shirt he was wearing didn't have long sleeves so she could see the arm clearly. There was the normal one and then there was the hideous one. Unlike the metallic, monstrous claw that it once was, the hand was now black, but still had the cross embedded in it. It went all the way up to his shoulder and ended with a strange tattoo-like design. It was still ugly and a little scary, but much less terrifying than its previous form.

Swinging the door open, Lenalee found herself greeted by a stark white room that was so white, it hurt her eyes at first glance. It was brightly lit and so devoid of color that the only thing equal to it was the young albino boy who owned it. He walked in, letting it swing almost completely closed until it was only open a crack. Watching to make sure he wouldn't come back out all of a sudden and catch her, Lenalee slowly moved towards the door and crouched down to peek through the space into the room.

There were only two pieces of furniture in the room. A white couch and a large, white grand piano. And at that piano was the boy who kept her there. _What...is he... _She couldn't even for the question because her was interrupted by the most beautiful music she had ever heard.

Refocusing her gaze, she saw Allen's fingertips moving gracefully over the keys as if he were playing air. His shoulders jutted forward when he pressed harder on the keys and he swayed in time with the music. It was such a captivating sight with the music and the utter perfection he exuded, that she lost herself in it and forgot where she was. She fell into the room.

"What are you doing in here?!" A voice shrieked around her. Lenalee quickly clambered up off the floor and scrambled for the door after just one look at Allen's bloodthirsty features. "Trespasser! This is my private room! You can't come here!"

Lenalee ran from the room and down the stairs out of the castle. She didn't care about her promise anymore, she couldn't stay. She heard the monster behind her and she spend up trying to get away. But whether she liked it or not, Allen was following her just not for the reasons that she thought.

* * *

**What do you think? Okay ending for the chapter? I wanted to get past this scene before the end of the chapter, but the chapters long enough. Remember Reviews make my day, you have no idea. ^-^**


	11. The Boy Behind the Beast

Lenalee was running from him at top speed, trying to lose Allen, and it took her a while in her hysterics before she noticed that she had done that. There she was, standing in a street of the city alone. _I haven't been through here on my own, but I think I can manage it. _She thought. Just so long as she didn't hurt herself on the rubble, she'd make it out of the god-forsaken city. So she walked. She walked and walked, but she hadn't realized just how big the area was and everything looked the same, save for the few pieces of rubble that were not so indiscriminate. After what she had decided to have been several hours since she started out, from the steadily rising sun in the sky, she had just made it to the edge of the woods. Lenalee saw a log at the edge and decided to sit down on it and take a break. She was exhausted both physically and emotionally.

Sitting there on the log, she thought about what she was facing. It took her this long to find her way out of the town and she still had to go through the forest. She remembered that the forest was even bigger and harder to find one's way through than the town and she had had enough trouble with that. How was she to go through it safely? And if her memory was correct, the forest was darker, scarier and more dangerous than the town as well. As she remembered this, she remembered back to what happened back at the castle. It was hard for her to imagine that just a little while ago, she was in the castle in the distance. _I wonder...if I overreacted? _It had seemed to her, up until that point, that he was nothing but a monster in full rage mode. However, now that she thought about it, maybe his actions were more justified than she realized. She **had** gone into a hidden room without telling anyone. _I'm pretty sure it was his private room. To hide it, it must have been very special to him... _Lenalee leaned backwards and closed her eyes as she sat. She could still hear the beautiful music Allen had played on his porcelain-like piano, even if he was no longer playing. Lenalee lived in a small town and was even sheltered in that respect, but she still knew that the soft melody was beyond anything most artists could ever do.

He seemed to be pouring so much emotion into it. _Maybe I shouldn't have disturbed him, _Lenalee thought guiltily. _Maybe he had been right to be angry even though I think he overreacted. I should have thought before I reacted that way. _She suddenly felt dirtier than trash for what she had done. Still, she didn't quite to go back. Given the choice, she'd rather continue on her journey home. Lost in her thoughts on what to do, Lenalee never heard the sounds approaching her from behind until they stepped on a twig and snapped it. "A-Allen?" Lenalee inquired, using the boy's name for the first time and turned towards the woods. She had been looking, and somewhat hoping, to see a head of white hair or maybe red, being found by Lavi would be better, but what she saw was not a welcoming sight.

A good half dozen wolves were stealthily creeping out of the woods. At least, she thought they were wolves. They were large and snaggle-toothed and seemed more like monster wolves than regular ones. The moment they seemed to notice that she saw them, the wolves gave up on stealth and launched themselves at her. Lenalee took off running with the pack right behind her. In her panic Lenalee could've sworn that she'd started begging and crying to be saved. "Aah!" Lenalee tried to hold back the cryas the closest wolf scratched at her heel, leaving large gashes. Now forming a limp and with the flowing of blood seeming to spur the creatures on, Lenalee knew she was going to die if she didn't do something.

Running to an abandoned home, she began to grab at the shards of glass littering the floor and throw them at the pack. Though the wolves hesitated for a second when she began, they quickly regained their nerve and continued their attack, forcing her back. Throwing herself through the door of one of the still standing buildings just as a wolf lunged for her, she slammed the door closed and effectively closing herself into the house. The locks and other mechanisms on the door no longer worked and, as a result, she had to lean against the door to keep it from swinging open on its own. Even as a couple of wolves began trying to crawl in through the small windows on either side of the door, she needed to stay pressed against the door to keep the wolves trying to break down the door at bay. The only thing keeping either of the wolves at the windows out was the glass still in the windows sills that threatened to tear at the wolf's flesh if it weren't careful.

_I can't hold out for much longer... _Lenalee pressed harder against the door, but closed her eyes. Trying her best to slow her heart rate, she got ready to meet her fate. _I just hope it'll be quick. _As he was doing this, a loud growl came from outside. She recognized immediately that it wasn't from a wolf. It was loud enough to cover the whole town and shake loose some of the dirt from the ceiling above her. The loud sound was followed by a yelp of pain from a wolf which was joined by more and more. Lenalee could've sworn she recognized the sound of the growl when that very voice then called out. "Lenalee? Are you here? Where are you?! Lenalee?!" _Allen..! _"Allen! I'm here! Help me, please!" She got a loud, angry growl in response to her words, ensuring her that he had heard. For the first time in a long time, she felt comforted. More growls and yelps were heard from the other side of the door, from both Allen and the wolves. Trying to cheer him on mentally, Lenalee hoped the boy wouldn't get hurt in her stead. The wolves still trying to get in through the windows were suddenly jerked back and they whimpered too before it all went silent.

While Lenalee was debating on whether she should open the door and see what happened or not, a strong knock on the door surprised her so much that she shrieked. "Aah!" Lenalee jumped away from the door before she knew what she was doing. "It's okay! It's just me." Allen's voice came from the other side. He then turned the knob and hurried into the room. There he was. The monster she'd run from, turned the hero she'd needed. His white hair tinged with blood, his clothes were the same with gnawed and scratched areas all over. The cheek opposite the scarred one was raw and bloody from being slammed into something. The worst was his arm. The left arm that was once again robotic looking instead of black and dripping with wolf blood. His right arm, however, had a large gash ripped down it. His blood was trailing down the arm and dripping onto the floor. "Are you okay?" The second these words were out of his mouth, she was in his arms. Lenalee felt Allen stiffen, but she just held him tighter and began crying into his chest. All the tears she was too scared to shed now rushed away with her adrenaline. Hesitantly, tentatively, experimentally, Allen hugged her and began rubbing her back in a comforting gesture.

After dragging themselves back to the castle and getting settled, they were treated by Kanda and Lavi. Though they didn't look it, the two servants appeared to be highly skilled in medicine. Kanda disinfected and wrapped Lenalee's ankle while Lavi wiped most of the blood from Allen's body with a wet cloth. All that was left was for them to change their torn and bloody clothing and to clean and wrap Allen's bloodied right arm. But as Lavi went to wrap his arm, Lenalee got up and stepped between them to stop him. "I'll do it." Lenalee said, staring straight at Lavi so he could see she was serious. "You and Kanda should get the clothes and go up to bed. I'll stay here and treat him. Please." Lavi was hesitant, but he got that she felt responsible and wanted to make amends so, nodding his assent, went upstairs with Kanda. After they'd left, Lenalee reached for the alcohol and began disinfecting his arm. Allen snarled as the alcohol touched the skin. Although she had been expecting to hear the sound, assuming that the alcohol would hurt, she couldn't help but flinch when she did. She still remembered how he'd flipped out on her when she had been found in his private room. Allen noticed this and hung his head ashamedly. "I'm...ah...I'm sorry." Allen said. Looking up hurriedly, she caught the look on his face. He looked as if he'd tasted something bad. It seemed like he was trying out the words for the first time. A silence engulfed them and, after a moment, he continued. "I'm sorry for scaring you. Now and back in the music room." Allen's head hung lower. Another silence. This time, Lenalee spoke. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have followed you without asking." It was a little awkward between them, but the silence was comfortable. Lenalee dressed his wound and Allen tried not to sound like a wounded animal (and failing miserably). It seemed so simple a scene, but Lenalee knew something had changed between them. Looking up at Allen, who looked drained of energy, she felt her chest grow warm.


	12. Is It Love?

It had been several days since the incident with the wolves. Allen and Lenalee had started spending more and more time together. At first, Lenalee just split her day between exploring the castle and seeking Allen out and tagging along with him for a while. Soon, though, she wanted to spend more and more time with him and she did so. It ultimately came to the point where she woke up, found Allen and spent the better part of her days with him including sharing meals. Lenalee was initially shocked by how Allen ate his food. Aside from his deplorable table manners and the way he tore at his food and stuffed it into his mouth, he ate a monstrous amount of food (pun intended). The servant, Kanda, Lenalee figured, seemed to be used to Allen's appetite. Without his asking, Kanda brings out exceedingly large portions of many kinds of food. She doubted he even asked Allen what he wanted to eat and that the first time Allen finds out what that is is when they are placed in front of him on a plate.

For his part, Allen tried to do things that would interest Lenalee or at least not bore her. He usually did mediocre things that other people would find too mundane. He would walk around the hallways or outside the castle and often sat in a chair in his room just staring off into space thinking or daydreaming. But he was a gentleman and didn't want to have the lady follow at his heels wherever he went. He still walked, just less and he did it at a leisurely pace localized mainly in the garden. Previously in his life when he was still in the center of a lot of people, he hadn't made much of an effort to think about what others liked to do. It had been a long time, anyhow, since he had been around girls and he wasn't sure what they liked these days. Reaching into his memories, he could see many women taking their liberties strolling in his gardens and smelling the flowers. So when it had been about three days since she started following him, he took her to the garden. He would point out all the kinds of flowers that were planted there especially the foreign ones or ones that had special properties. They were all dead now, cursed, but they were still recognizable and they would never become something else. His garden was his pride and joy even back before he was cursed. He would be sure to show her everything even the rose bush.

Lenalee was amazed at the beautiful roses that were Allen's. She had been through the garden twice, once when she entered looking for her missing brother and again when she fled in fear of Allen's rage. Everything was bathed in darkness and shadows so she couldn't see the garden very well much less notice the well hidden rose bush, the only plant actually thriving in the otherwise dead area. Thinking on it, she hadn't really yet wondered why everything in the town was black and colorless. Even rainless impoverished places she read about in books didn't look like that. Well, maybe it had to do with that curse told about in the story. After all, the story had been right about the monster, but Lenalee was having a hard time associating that word with her host any more. But since Allen so kindly walked her through it, kindness she hadn't known he possessed, had seen the many kinds of flowers that had made up the garden. She was surprised at how emphatic someone could be over flowers that weren't colorful or radiant, but it drew her in. And the rose bush! It's beauty was unparallelled by anything on this Earth it seemed. They glowed with an internal light that was almost beyond being described. She could tell they were precious to Allen.

"Why do the roses thrive while everything else dies?" Lenalee asked. She hadn't meant any harm by it, but she seemed to do some, all the same. "Sorry." She apologized hurriedly, but Allen held up his hand to silence her. "There is a curse on these lands that was placed by a fairy and nothing can grow here. The soil and even the weather are forcibly barren. However, the roses were a gift from her and are immune to the spell. In fact, the rose bush itself seems to be enchanted to put out the best blooms that ever grew from ground." Hearing this, Lenalee looked back at the roses in understanding and awe of everything that they were. When she finally turned back to Allen and saw him watching her warily, she could not help but feel the same way towards him.

Other than the lack of fear and animosity between them, neither really noticed that they were getting closer. Allen was being constantly reminded by his friends who wanted to break the curse that Lenalee had begun to trust him and that maybe she could love him. Lenalee, for her part, never really thought about how important Allen had become in her everyday life. She spent all of her time with him and felt rather empty without him around, but never thought about what that meant. She didn't, that is, until one day. It was a day like any other for Lenalee, but Allen was planning something special. Not that he wanted to, he told himself, it was just to shut Lavi and Kanda up and make them leave him alone. As usual, they were pestering him about getting her to love him so that they could be free. Lavi was giving him dubious tips on wooing women. Kanda was making jerkass remarks about not messing it up and they naturally got into a long winded fight about it. After Lavi broke up the fight between him and Kanda, he dragged the struggling Kanda away to help him with housekeeping or something Lavi related leaving Allen to fume by himself. Doing what he usually did when he was pissed, Allen paced the mansion for a while and slowly calmed down. Once he'd been walking for a while, Allen's thoughts turned to something other than the baka Kanda. He didn't like to admit it, but what Kanda was talking about really got to him. S_he's gullible enough to like you. Don't screw it up, stupid beansprout. _"Gah! Why am I thinking about what Kanda said?! He was just being his usual jerk self!" But Allen knew he was worried that she wouldn't like him. May girls had called him cruel and he, begrudgingly, had to agree with them. He didn't want the same thing to happen with Lenalee, though. He didn't think he could stand it. _Just for the curse. _He told himself. _I'm only so invested because I am more than ready to break this curse. _He went to see Lenalee.

"Where are we going?" Lenalee asked, curiously. She was currently being led by the hand by none other than her host) she never thinks of him as her captor now). He had come into her room where she was making a rose bouquet from the garden roses Allen allowed her to pick. Allen had announced that he had a gift for her, but it was too big to move. She was now following him to an undisclosed location. "I told you 'it's a surprise'. I don't want to spoil it." Allen joked so playfully that Lenalee couldn't help but giggle and joke back with him. By the time they arrived at their destination, they were playing around as if they were best friends. Allen was paying so much attention to Lenalee that he almost walked right past the door. "Alright. We're here!" Allen announced with a flourish of his hand. Giggling cutely, Lenalee tried to open the door to the what the surprise was, but Allen cried out. "No! Um...I'll open , first, close your eyes." Lenalee gave him a questioning look. "Allen..." "You're not seeing it until you close your eyes." Allen stated matter-of-factly and, with only a second more of hesitation, she closed her eyes.

After lightly waving his hand in front of her eyes and then pretending to swipe at her to make sure she wasn't faking, he turned to the doors. Grasping both handles, one in each handle, he threw the wide double doors of the library open. He turned around and hesitantly took her hands in his own. She seemed startled by the touch, but did not open her eyes and, after a moment, relaxed. He began walking backwards, drawing her blindly into the room. After he had her placed nicely in the room where she had an excellent view of all angles, he all but ran back to the double doors and lightly closed them. She felt a tinge of sadness when she felt his hands leave her, but hoped he didn't notice. "Open your eyes." Allen breathed in her ear after taking up behind her. Trying not to focus on the rising heat in her cheeks, Lenalee opened her eyes. The calm facade she had tried to put on quickly dropped. "What...is this?" She asked, trying to find the words. Before her was an enormous library. She always liked to read, but they didn't even have a library in her home town. It had rows upon rows of books to read that she had to crane her neck to see the end of. There were also a few couches, a chair and several pillows splayed out in the center of the room. All were used to sit on and looked very comfortable.

"This," Allen began to answer her long forgotten question. "is my private library. Well...ours. I'll share it with you and we can use to together." A small blush creeped onto his cheeks at this which seemed to draw a blush out of Lenalee as well. "Oh! Your private library and you want me to use it too? What can I say?" "Maybe 'thanks'?" Allen asked, worriedly. Lenalee froze and Allen thought that he'd offended her before she turned around and hugged him close. The blush on his face deepened as the warmth of her embrace spread throughout his body. Before he'd recovered from the initial shock, she drew back slightly and gave him a small but tender kiss on his nose. "Thank you so much, Allen." Said just above a whisper and with the close proximity, these simple words carried a lot of weight for Allen and it was clear she meant it to be that way.

Later that night, Kanda made some cookies and hot chocolate for them and Lavi lit a fire in the fireplace. After being left alone, Allen and Lenalee began to eat their snacks (Allen trying and failing to not wolf them down) and cracked open a book from the library. Together they had picked out a fairytale book called The Green Fairy Book (yes, this is a real thing) and decided that they would read it together later. "Let's start on the second story. It looks more interesting." Lenalee pleaded. "How can you tell by just reading the title? We need to read it first." "Nooo..." She whined, using the methods she usually did to win in fights with her brother. To her surprise, it wasn't working on Allen. He glanced over to her and gave a smirk, showing her that he knew what she was trying to do. "Shh...you'll see, okay?" Allen leaned back and opened the book to the first story. "Don't judge a book by it's cover." At these words, they each smiled a knowing smile. They spent their night going through as many of the stories in the book as they could before falling asleep together on the floor.


	13. Tyki Won't Give Up

It had been a long time since Tyki had seen his beloved Lenalee. He was pissed off that she rebuked his offer for marriage, yes, but what really got under his skin was her avoidance of him since. Nearly a week after their spat about the proposal, Tyki had trekked over to the lady's house to have a talk with her. His goal, of course, being that he would convince her that she'd made a mistake and that they should be married at once. But it was not to be. For when he got to the home, there was no one there. He hadn't even been aware that she'd left the town. After asking around, he'd found that no one else had been aware of this fact either and this troubled him. either she was in trouble or she had run away from him...and he was inclined to believe the second one.

Not long after that, her brother returned from his trip. _Well, _Tyki remembered thinking. _She can't be gone forever. She wouldn't just leave her brother here, not like the crazy scientist would let her anyway. _Thinking that perhaps Komui would know where Lenalee had gone, Tyki approached the brother. As Komui noticed Tyki approaching, he took a defensive stance and donned a pretty nasty scowl. "I come in peace." Tyki said, raising his hands into in the air in surrender and continued his approach until the two stood face-to-face. "How was your trip?" Tyki asked, trying to work up a conversation. "Terrible. A waste of time. A mistake." Komui went on with quickly veiled resentment and sadness. Tyki decided to ignore and, as he had never been a very patient fellow, moved on to the issue at hand. "I haven't seen your delightful sister around. Do you know where she might be?" Tyki asked, laying on the charm. He had to make a good impression. This was his love interest's guardian after all. Should they get married, he would give her away and the two of them would be related.

Komui's head swiveled around to look at Tyki, giving him a fierce glare. "Lord Tyki Mikk," Komui began with derision, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "My sister will never marry you. She won't be coming back. She'll never be coming back, so give it up!" Tyki was stunned into silence by this outburst which he had not expected from the scientist before him. Using this moment of shock to his advantage, Komui left the man behind and entered his home, locking the door behind him.

Quietly standing there, staring at the area Komui was standing, his words finally sunk into Tyki's head. _Lenalee is gone. She's never coming back. Could it be true? _Tyki wondered to himself as he wobbled over to a bench and sat down. _That crazy scientist never liked me... He never liked anyone who went after my dear Lenalee actually, to which I can at least be grateful. No other men were able to get near her and steal her away from me, but..._ Tyki sighed exhaustedly, finally getting his bearings. _She rejected me and what if he was right? What if she really did leave forever? What then? _He already knew the answer to that, he would follow her to the end of the world in order to convince her to marry him. But how to find her? He wasn't deranged enough to think that Komui would simply tell him where she was. Unless...

Later that night, Tyki snuck out to the Lee residence and camped out outside. He had decided earlier that day that if Komui wasn't going to tell him where his sister was, he'd have to eavesdrop and find out for himself. Komui would have to let out information at some time and Tyki was going to be there when he did! Things continued in that way for weeks. Whenever Tyki had a free moment and could get away from his fans and the admiring townspeople (he had a lot, not to brag or anything), he would follow Komui. Follow or watch him, looking to see if he would ever try to communicate with Lenalee, but he did not. Komui was just how Tyki had expected him to be after his announcement that the sister he had viciously protected with his lie was now gone. No, wait, he was worse. Komui was incredibly depressed. He barely ever left his home so Tyki was usually camped out in the yard outside. Then again, he had often times holed himself up in his office for days on end before so the sight of him being so reclusive was not necessarily cause for much concern, but said scientist was a friendly and excitable man. So the sight of him avoiding people in general when he did go out, that was rather disconcerting.

The people of the town never did care much for the Lees who, although kind hearted and nice people, never fit in very well in their perfectly generic little town. Komui was way too excited about his crazy experiments that only outsiders seemed to have an interest in and his sister issues didn't really make him any more of a town favorite. Lenalee was a little less liked than her brother. While Komui was ready and willing to talk with anyone who would listen, Lenalee was more giving and, to an extent, forgiving than her brother, but more emotionally reclusive.

Always either wandering off or daydreaming, she was mostly seen staring off at the clouds as if she expected them to start falling from the sky at any moment and reading book after book as if they were oxygen. Reading and daydreaming, neither a popular pastime around there. She was always polite when talking to someone, but only talked when talked to. In their small town where everyone knows everyone, you can't be like that. However, she meant no harm. That, added to her beauty and charm, helped the townspeople to be forgiving enough of her less-than-desirable behavior for her to not be too much of a social outcast or the subject of too many rumors.

All the women chased after Tyki and, he had to admit, he loved it. Providing they weren't too clingy or annoying. None of the girls after him had a chance, but that didn't stop them from getting upset when he began to court Lenalee. People thought that he only liked her for her beauty and nothing else. And they were right. She was nice (which was nice) and wasn't clingy or obsessive (which he liked) and had a voice like an angel (very pleasant), but what made her his ideal bride was her looks.

**(Tyki POV...Tyki POV...Tyki POV...)**

Shallow? Of course it was. But, I mean, I was raised by my shallow brother, Sheryl who, like most everyone else I've met in my life, praised and fawned over me for my breathtaking good looks and charm. I may not be particularly honest, but it is not as if I am a liar and I'm amazingly charming. And isn't that what matters in this world? What people think and how they view you?

I will admit that at times it can be lonely knowing you're only worth is that which is on the outside. I'm not who people think I am. That's the worst part, I put up a front; an act. If people knew who I really was inside all of this beauty and politeness and cordiality, would they still fawn over me like they do? No and then I would lose whatever worth I have. After all, I have a short temper, am almost always in a grumpy mood unless I'm laughing at someone else's misfortune (don't judge) and I smoke...a lot. I can't let that happen.

Lenalee...she's never had the burden of having to fit in. Maybe that's why I'm the only man in town that isn't deterred by her unwillingness to act like a complacent housewife or cute maiden. Because even though I put up the polite facade around her too (if only because as much as she hates me, I know she'd hate who I really am even more if I were to show her), I don't quite feel like marrying her would be a lie. I've never told her I loved her just like she's never said that to me. No pretenses of love, so no way to get hurt. Lenalee isn't hot on the idea of marrying me, but I still believe that I can convince her...that this is as good as it's going to get.

**(End Tyki POV...End Tyki POV...End Tyki POV...)**

That night, using this thought to renew his vigor, Tyki approached the Lee household and knocked. After a long pause in which Tyki was thinking about knocking again, the door opened to reveal a red eyed Komui. Tyki took a nervous step back as a feeling of awkwardness suddenly came to him. It was clear that Komui had been crying. "What, Lord Mikk?" Komui asked moodily, shaking Tyki's inhibitions away. "Forgive me if I am impertinent, but is there something that bothers you?" Tyki asked, his polite facade already up. "Nothing at all. If that's it, then good night.." Komui started to close the door, but before he could, Tyki stuck his foot in the entryway making that impossible. This action surprised Komui because Tyki was very proper, but the forcefulness was nothing new.

"Something I can help you with?" Komui asked again. A devious smirk dominated Tyki's complexion. "I wonder...? Maybe there is something I can help you with?" Tyki questioned gently. Komui was obviously trying to hide his quickly growing panic. "I don't.." "Where's Lenalee?" Tyki interrupted Komui's denial. He wasn't sure why, but Tyki had the feeling that Lenalee was somehow involved. Komui seemed to battle with himself for a while, but the more desperate side of himself seemed to win the fight. Perhaps it was just the fact that Tyki got him when he already seemed to be having a breakdown. Without further restraint, Komui leaned his body against the door frame and began sobbing. He seemed to be using the wall to hold himself up as he got lost in his misery.

Tyki had a blank look on his face as a cover for how lost and shaken he felt at seeing Komui in this state. Komui was usually smiling and unconcerned about things. It didn't feel right, him being like this. Tyki also felt a slight tugging feeling in his chest between the nervousness and bewilderment, but he didn't dwell on it for long. Doing probably the only thing he could at the time, Tyki put his hand on Komui's shaking shoulder trying to comfort him or at least act like it. "Tell me." Was all Tyki said. Komui didn't react and continued sobbing, but Tyki could tell that he had heard him.

They didn't know how long the two stayed like that before Komui was able to control himself enough to stop and Tyki withdrew his hand. Both men were secretly feeling very embarrassed after things calmed down. After all, they rather hated each other and barely talked or even stayed around each other. Nothing in their relationship prior warranted that little moment together, even if they weren't really thinking about that in such a moment of high emotion and stress. However, they were men with pride and as such could not afford to let their embarrassed and awkward feelings be seen so they covered it up by getting to the heart of the problem.

"Lenalee is gone." Komui started, his voice melancholy. _Yes. That much you told me. _Tyki thought in an irritated manner, but allowed the inventor to continue. "I was kidnapped by a monster during my journey. He lives in a castle, you see." Tyki was starting to think Komui had hit his head during his trip; hard. "Lenalee traded her freedom for mine. She is now a prisoner to that monster." Komui finished, an air of bitterness surrounding him.

Tyki opened his mouth, more than ready to either try and ask for the truth again or insist Komui talk to a doctor about his delusions, but closed his mouth soon after as a thought struck him. "And where is this castle, Sir?" Komui looked startled for a moment. Perhaps he thought that Tyki wouldn't believe him enough to even follow up on it or he could have been surprised at himself for not having mentioned where all this nasty business had gone down which is possibly the most important part. Maybe both.

"In the abandoned town beyond the woods. To get there, you off the main road when the forest comes into view and go straight through the forest until the woods recede and a cliff overlooking the castle shows up." Komui told of the location like he was giving instructions. He did not know the town as Mater, of course.

"I shall go see about this town and castle." Tyki said after a moment of debate. "R-Really?" Komui emitted a sound somewhere between excitement and surprise. _He would brace such a dangerous place to save my Lenalee? Maybe I've been wrong about Mikk this whole time. I should have gone slightly easier on him. Slightly. _Interrupting his musings, Tyki smiled his leads creepy smile and answered merrily. "But, of course. I shall go there and if what you say is true, I will slay the beast and bring back the innocent and fair Lenalee." He paused, thinking, then continued. "And when I do, can I trust in your cooperation with getting Ms. Lee to marry me?"

"I couldn't..." Komui began in the missing girl's defense. Before he could finish, a fear crept into his mind and robbed him of the ability to voice his upset. Knowing Tyki, if Komui said the wrong thing or denied him still when he had not yet left to find Lenalee, he might not go. He may demand he help persuade Lenalee or worse, demand their marriage as soon as they return, or else he won't look for her. Or worse! He could say he'll bring her back and rescue her. Then, instead of bringing her home, they could elope together, get married anyway and he'll never see his precious sister again!

During Komui's mental diatribe about the horrible "what if"s of the situation, Tyki just stood there and watched Komui unravel. He'd figured out a while ago that whatever Komui would come up with in his head using his own fears was worse than whatever Tyki could say. Tyki straightened up as Komui seemed to have an epiphany moment and came back to reality. "You may have your way, Lord Mikk." Komui said in a purposely studious tone. "If you find Lenalee and save her from that beast, then I'll see if I can get her to marry her savior." Tyki smiled a truly happy smile in satisfaction. "Dear inventor, it would be my pleasure." He said, his formality no longer forced; he was much too happy. "I shall leave at once."

Komui looked a little troubled at having spilled everything that he had been trying to keep hidden, but the dominating emotion was clearly relief. _Looks like I did the right thing by telling Tyki, after all. I think everything will be okay... _Thinking this, Komui bid Tyki good night and entered his house to have the best nights sleep he's had in days. Tyki stood outside for a while after, contemplating the situation. The most beautiful girl in town (yes, marrying her would serve to feed his already very healthy ego) for his wife and all he had to do was slay a beast and rescue her from a castle. _Fair enough, _Tyki thought. That night, Tyki left and, by morning, he was long gone with no one to know where he went except a silent inventor with a smile that spoke volumes.


	14. Roses

A few days after Tyki left, Allen brought Lenalee to the rose bush in the garden. "What are we doing here, Allen? Are we going to admire the flowers again?" Lenalee asked, confused. "No, Lena." Allen turned to her and gave a smile. The last few days, Allen hadn't been as stoic or reserved. He even began gracing her with these rare smiles which, unlike his polite and fake smiles, shone brighter than the sun. It was another of his endearing qualities that he kept hidden and she soon learned to notice them. Allen's voice pulled her out of her reverie. "We're going to pick some." Lenalee was so surprised to hear him say this. Allen hated people touching his flowers and he never allowed them to be harmed or picked, not by himself nor anyone else. "B-but...you hate people touching them!" Lenalee gasped out. "The castle is kind of barren, isn't it?" Allen said, airily, as if he were talking to himself. "Wouldn't you like some flowers to decorate it?"

It was then that she realized he was doing it for her. "Allen, that is...you don't need to..." Lenalee wanted to decorate the castle, but she didn't want to impose on Allen after all he had done for her. He, however, interrupted her before she could tell him that it was unnecessary. "I don't mind the roses being picked, as long as it is by you." Allen looked into her eyes with enough emotion to melt glaciers. Lenalee felt her heart start to beat faster and found she couldn't continue to say no with him looking like that. They then spent the afternoon picking flowers and gathering them into bunches. They would talk about random things and joke with each other to pass the time while they worked.

"Allen, why do you love these flowers so much? Is it because you like roses or because they're the only healthy flowers in the garden?" Lenalee asked, offhandedly. "You know, I really like roses." Allen said, thoughtfully, with a face as if he had just discovered something he had forgotten long ago. "I used to give them to a lot of guests at the castle before the curse. The people and the gesture were meaningless, but the flower was always special." Allen fingered the roses gently. Lenalee noted the faraway look in his eyes and wished she could have been part of the world he was remembering. I think we have enough flowers." She said. Gently, she touched his shoulder, drawing him out of his memories. "Alright!" Allen smiled, excitedly. "We'll paint the castle red!"

**(POV Change Line... POV Change Line... POV Change Line...)**

Lavi was astounded, to say the least. He had been walking down the hallway coming from checking on Kanda to make sure that he was working on schedule. His other friend was on time as usual and, after dodging several murder attempts from said friend for calling him by his first name, Lavi was on his way to The sight that lay before him made him think that he was asleep. His master and good friend, Allen, was helping Lenalee to shower the castle halls in big red flowers. Alen was tucking flowers into every nook and cranny in the place with this wide smile and a look of pure bliss on his face.

Lavi wanted to think that he couldn't remember ever seeing Allen like that, but he did. Lavi had a memory that was amazing by most standards and he could remember back when he was a child. Back to a time with a nicer, more innocent Allen who loved everybody. He would always smile even when he was alone and his eyes sparkled with wonder at the world. Lavi had always believed that fame and wealth had tainted him. He had known or maybe hoped that Allen could easily go back to the way he was if he wanted to. After all these years, though, Lavi had started to lose that unwavering faith he was known for. And then the curse happened and his not-so-unwavering faith was to be tested once again.

Now, for the first time in who knows when, his hope was being fed so it can grow. Allen had always just about bitten his hand off whenever Lavi had tried to care for his roses and with the fact that he was cutting them and letting Lenalee put them all over the palace, Lavi certainly had no clue what could have brought on this profound change. "Hi, Lavi!" Lenalee's light voice chimed. It seemed that in his shock, he had been standing in the middle of the hall practically begging for them to notice him. Lenalee and Allen ran up to him, excitement evident of their faces.

At the prompting, Lavi recovered enough to hide his shock behind an easygoing, if not slightly strained, smile. "Hey, you to! What are you doing here?" He asked, gesturing to the flowers. "We thought we would brighten the place up." She offered and Allen nodded along with her. "Allen is helping me and you should help too!" Lenalee brightened up at the sudden thought. Out of the corner of his eye, Lavi could see that Allen, even if he were still smiling, was giving him a look as if daring him to say no. Not that it mattered, of course. Decorating looked like a lot more fun than he had had in the castle in a long time. Even if it didn't, this new change of heart was too great to not encourage and so he had to take part; he didn't want Allen regressing because of him. "Sure, I'd love to!" Lavi bounced around giddily as he said it before being handed a bouquet of freshly cut roses and went to work.

**(POV Change Line... POV Change Line... POV Change Line...)**

Tyki had been making his way through the forest all morning until midafternoon. And he had to say, it was pure hell. Every tree in the forest after certain point were dead and mangled and also blocked out any and all sunlight. A lesser man would have been terribly afraid and probably would have stopped their mission. But he was not like that and there was no way he was going back without his princess. Overgrown plants and vines and roots that pretty much shot out of the ground like they were reaching for the sky tripped him up at every turn. _I can't believe I'm doing this. _That thought had been rather recurring the last few hours. After not long at all, he was covered in scratches with a few bruises here and there and the beginnings of callus on his fingers. It was the hardest work he'd done in a long time.

After a while, he surprisingly came across another living creature. A cute, adorable, sweet, little white bunny. A slight smile tugged at his lips at the sight and kneeled down in front of it. As he reached out his hand to pet it, though, the bunny pretty much exploded. Not as gory it sounds. Tyki jumped back and watched as the bunny morphed into a giant creature seemingly made of metal and guns sprouting forth from it's body. Tyki ducked out of the way as a hail of gunfire was unleashed upon him. Needless to say, Tyki hot footed it out of the area, nearly careening of the edge of a precariously placed cliff. When he had finally made his way out of the twisted forest and into the town below, he decided that that had been the strangest thing he ever had to do.

He had been admittedly shocked when he saw the castle and the town just as Komui had described it. He preferred not to think about the fact that although he had been warned about the cliff well ahead of time, he still almost fell off of it just as Komui did, like an idiot. Since his pride could never let him admit any of this, of course, he naturally blamed it on his being panicked and shocked by the scariest bunny he had ever seen in his life. He had believed Komui when he talked about the monster and the abandoned village and his sister being taken. He had believed him and yet, it all seemed so fantastic, you can imagine why he was slightly surprised to actually see it all with his own eyes.

Tyki went right to work setting up camp in one of the decaying homes in the center of town. He had a bag of crude supplies he brought from home and that was it. He wasn't foolish or sheltered enough to think that he would be able to get food or drink at an abandoned city where he is on a search and rescue mission, but he also knew that he had to pack light if he wanted full mobility. It was getting dark when he finally settled down, but he found it hard to go to sleep. Whether it was because he was in a foreign place doing a dangerous thing in trying to rescue a princess from a monster, because he was sleeping on the uncomfortable rotted ground of a cabin (which, quite naturally, also contained holes in the floorboard) or if, most likely, he was simply worried that the unstable roof would collapse in on him while he was asleep, effectively killing him in his sleep or, even worse, trapping him under the rubble until he died of other causes. Maybe some combination of the three.

During this time of unrest, he was formulating his game plan on how to rescue the fair Lenalee from the clutches of the monster. Now that he was there, and since he didn't know what that foul demon was doing to the poor girl, but knowing that she must be frightened, he did not want to wait any longer than was necessary. He would sleep until he had enough energy to sight the monster and then he would go to the palace and take him by surprise. Then he would ride away with Lenalee into the sunset...and you get the rest. With that in mind and his confidence swelling, he finally fell to sleep with a light heart. Things didn't go quite as planned, though, the next morning when he woke up just to come face to face with an angry looking Asian man with long black hair with a scowl plastered on his face and a murderous glint in his eye. _Crap._

**How do you guys feel about the akuma bunny? I thought it was cute. Just so we're clear, it was not an "akuma" as in, created by the Earl. I made it into a type of cursed animal. A creepy, badass animal you can only find in the woods of Mater.**


	15. Alone

"What's wrong, Lenalee?" Allen asked, craning his head, looking for an answer in her eyes.

"Oh, nothing." Lenalee replied, giving a smile, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. They had been having tea together, but Lenalee had been acting strange since that morning. She had been quiet, thoughtful and solitary. She even seemed depressed like back when she first came to the castle.

This worried Allen and his attempts at getting her to talk about it with him turned up nothing. Any conversations he started petered off when she showed no signs of interest. Allen put his tea cup down and walked over to Lenalee. He put a hand on her shoulder and bent down slightly to peer into her eyes.

"Please tell me. How can I make it better if I don't know what's bothering you? I don't like seeing you sad." By the last sentence, his voice was barely above a whisper and held a whimpering tone. Lenalee felt her heart constrict not in sadness, as it had been all day, but out of guilt for having neglected and worried Allen.

"It's just that...I've been feeling sad lately and I don't know why."

Allen began to panic, but kept his voice mildly calm. "Why? Have you been unhappy here? Is the castle too big or..."

"No!" Lenalee cut him off as she gestured around the room. "I actually like it here and Lavi has been really sweet and Kanda, almost nice."

"And me?" Allen asked while wringing his hands, no longer trying to hide his worries.

"The best." Lenalee said, honestly. She seemed to think about something and then she spoke. "But I miss my brother's home. I miss my brother and I think I'm homesick..."

"...And it's making you miserable." Allen finished for her. Lenalee looked ashamed and she bent her head low to avoid his gaze. "Timcampy!" Allen bellowed, loudly. A shiny, golden ball flew into the room and Lenalee looked up at it in wonder. The ball landed in Allen's hand and, gently grabbing Lenalee's hands, deposited Tim into them. Lenalee looked at Allen in question. "Tell Tim whatever or whoever you wish to see," He drew in a shaky breath. "and he will show it to you."

Lenalee's eyes widened as she heard this and she turned to the tiny Timcampy. "Show me Komui Lee." She said, desperately, but clearly.

Without heitation, Timcampy opened his mouth and displayed what she asked. Lenalee was greeted with the sight off her brother...collapsed on his desk with grief. The sound wasn't great, but she could slightly hear him bemoaning the loss of his sister. His hair looked matted and greasy. Allen stood behind her, seeing what she saw. Allen could see the misery that the man was experiencing by losing his precious sister. For the first time, Allen fully realized what his actions had caused and the guilt was crushing. That was when Lenalee saw it. The beads of sweat on her brother's forehead and neck. She noticed his heavy breathing. He really hadn't been taking care of himself.

"He's sick!" She jerked back, frightened.

Timcampy ould have falen to the ground if he didn't have wings. Though she was too scared by what she saw to focus on Timcampy, she shot him a quick apologetic look. Seeing her brother ill, calling her name into the emptiness of their house brought her to tears.

"Brother..." She breathed the word out like a life-saving prayer.

"Do you want to go to him?" Allen asked, quietly, but he already knew the answer.

"What?" Was Lenalee's shocked answer.

"I've kept you here long enoug. You and your brother need each other, so if you wish to leave and go back to him, I wish you the best." He wouldn't meet her eyes at first, but, upon hearing a choked gasp, his head shot up to see her eyes glistening with tears.

"Really?" She asked, shakily. "Honestly?" This was the kindest thing anyone had ever done for her.

Staring deeply into her eyes, Allen brought his discolored hand to her cheek and rubbed his thumb against it gently, affectionetly. "I've never been more honest in my entire life." His voice had lowered substantially. The air thickened between them and there was only the two of them, everything dropped away. They both stared at the one in front of them. The moment was shattered by a loud bang as the door to the room was violently kicked in. This was followed by the sound of a scuffle and shouting. In stomped Kanda, kicking a thoroughly beaten Tyki in front of him and into the room.

"Tyki?!" Lenalee cried, shock evident in her voice.

Tyki wobbled after one final kick from Kanda before regaining his balance. "Good afternoon, Princess." Tyki wheezed.

"What's going on here?" Allen asked the room, but his eyes were on Kanda.

Taking up the hint, Kanda explained irritatedly. "I found this bum sleeping in town." His gruff voice must have set Tyki off because the previously rather quiet man burst out a single sentence with vigor.

"I came to rescue Lenalee and bring her back home!"

Tyki had a look on his tired that could be considered a cross between heroic and prideful. He must have had a great deal of confidence in his abilities to "rescue" Lenalee. Too bad no one else in the room thought the same. Lenalee was caught somewhere between wondering at his stupidity, anger that he went ahead and did this without her permission (not that she could have given it at all) and supposing she should feel thankful for his concern. Allen was wondering what was up with this weird new guy and trying not to beat the hell out of him for even suggesting that he could be slayed by the man. Kanda was clearly displeased, but had an almost amusedly annoyed expression on his face. Tyki never seemed to notice the difference.

"So you're here to take Ms. Lee home, correct?" Allen asked, in his usual regal voice. Lenalee felt a little pain in her heart at hearing Allen revert to calling her by her last name. She didn't like the feeling of distance it was giving her. Tyki blinked in surprise. Whether that was because he hadn't expected the boy to address him directly or because of the boy's surprising grace and manners, is unclear.

Gathering his wits, Tyki shook his head readily in agreement. "Yes, I am." He stated.

"Alright, then. You may take her." Allen replied without missing a beat, a secretly forced, but still shining smile gracing his features. Allen then turned to Lenalee and addressed her. "It seems as if your night in shining armor has come." While she stared at him in shock, Allen flashed her one of those brilliant smiles of his that she loved so much. "That's quite fortunate since we now don't have to find an escort for you to ensure you have a safe trip back."

Lenalee's face alighted with understanding at what he meant. Since she was to go home anyway, he would have Tyki take her home. The two turned their attention back to Kanda and Tyki who both looked shell shocked. Kanda was wondering what the heck was going on with everybody and why Allen was suddenly willing to give Lenalee up, especially after things were going so well. Tyki was equally shocked for almost the same reasons. He honestly had expected to go through hell and back. He thought that the "beast" would fight for her and stuff. And after he'd been captured, he was trying not to think about how he was pretty much a sitting duck. But, now, they were practically giving Lenalee to him. To say he was astounded would be an understatement.

With a slight nudge from Allen, Lenalee began to walk to Tyki's side. She seemed to have a hard time leaving Allen's side even if she was now free to go. Her legs, to her, seemed like they were wading through thick mud and each step took enourmous effort. She would have liked nothing more than to turn and go back to Allen's side and then she would likely meet with no resistance from her legs, but she didn't. Instead, sh e continued until she was standing directly next to, but not touching, her "savior" Tyki Mikk. Kanda had a death hold on Tyki's arm and didn't seem too keen on letting go. Not until he understood what was going on, anyway.

"You two are free to go." Allen stated, his voice both regal and booming. He sent a quick glare Kanda's way, a look laced with threats if he didn't release Tyki and promises of explanations to come later. Angrily, Kanda let go of Tyki and basically kicked him towards the door effectively knocking Tyki out of his stupor.

"Alright! Alright! We're going!" Straightening himself, Tyki extended his hand towards Lenalee. "Come, Sweet Lenalee. I'll take you home. Komui has been worried sick about you."

These were the words Lenalee had wanted to hear since she came to that place. Now, though, the words were dull and, aside from mention of her brother, unenticing. She hesitently took his hand and allowed herself to be led out of the castle. She looked back several times to see Allen before he was out of eyesight. The last time she looked, she caught the heartbroken look on his face and accidentily burned it into her mind's eye. She swore she would never forget that look. Lenalee made her way back to the forest that had brought her brother here and then away. And now, as she too made her way to the forest that brought her here and would now take her back home, one clear thought came to her mind through the haze of unfamiliar emotions.

_I wanted to stay._


	16. Sadness

Tyki and Lenalee's trip back was quiet, Lenalee not even trying to reply to Tyki's inquisitions and attempts at conversation. Once they had returned, however, things seemed to look up. As soon as the Lee household was in her sights, Lenalee ran towards the building at full speed with Tyki following faithfully behind her.

The frail form of Komui was seen flinging the door open upon hearing his younger sister yelling for him. The two of them wasted no time in closing the space between them and clinging to each other as if they would disappear any second. The two siblings went into the house without loosening their grips in the slightest.

Left behind in the quiet night was Tyki. After thinking on if he should leave the two to get reaquainted alone, Tyki went in as well and closed the door behind him. He had no desire to intrude, but they had some things to discuss.

The surrounding area of the Lee household rang with the lamentations of young Lenalee. Her moaning and sobbing stretched out to the town and shrouded the residents in gloom. The townspeople had never been overly fond of the Lee siblings and not many people knew Lenalee well, but there was a certain pervasive sadness that came with the now unhappy girl.

The town had grown used to Lenalee walking about the town, a pleasant smile on her face and a restrained but kind aura emanating from her person. Now, though, the girl was a shadow of her former self. She barely moved from her spot beside her bedroom window where she spent all of every day crying her heart out and even when she did move from her window, she never left her home.

She no longer walked through the town in comfortable silence as she went about buying the groceries her brother would require. Her shy but polite greetings of "good day" or "how are you this evening" were no longer heard, not from her nor anyone else. A heavy silence enveloped the people. No one knew what was wrong and that seemed to darken the overall mood even more.

As bad as the townspeople were, Komui and Tyki were even worse. After the first night she came back and was so happy to see her brother, Lenalee just stayed by her window all of the time. She would get lost in thought for hours on end looking towards the direction of the forest to Allen's castle. She barely ate even when Komui brought her food. If Komui begged, then he'd be able to get his sister to relent enough for a few bites.

Tyki visited often and even though Komui was unsure why he was going through the trouble when there wasn't really anything for him to gain from it, he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Tyki himself didn't know why he was doing it since he wasn't trying to earn points with Lenalee or reminding Komui of the deal they made in exchange for Lenalee's return. The least he could figure out was that he felt bad and although the thought that he was there to console the siblings was a strange one for him, Tyki had never claimed to be immune to such emotions.

Although the two had always been rather wary of each other, Tyki and Komui drew closer in this amount of time almost subconsciously. The kind of sadness and empty guilt that the two men felt over the situation with Lenalee has the ability to bring people together. In a way, they finally had a way to understand each other.

Things went like this for around two weeks. Tyki would visit daily each time spending more time out of the visit with Komui than with Lenalee since both men could tell that their presence did not make her feel any better. The two would either talk about what was ailing Komui's silent sister or just eat while in each other's company. Sometimes they would take turns trying to coerce her into conversation or eating and later that evening, Tyki would leave to return the next day.

After those two weeks had passed, however, Lenalee surprised both of the men by coming downstairs. "I can't take it anymore." She breathed her first words in a while. "There is something that I need to say. Can I talk to you guys?" The three of them spent the night talking about everything that had happened.

"He's not as bad as her seems." Lenalee started after a moment. "In fact, he's really very nice." At her words, Komui and Tyki wore identical looks of disbelief. Though, perhaps wisely, neither questioned or interrupted her. With no verbal prompting, she took a breath and continued.

"After he took you away, Brother, I thought that I would be locked in your cell and left in the dark, I really did. He was nice to me since the beginning and brought me to a room for me to stay in." She paused with a look of clear amusement as both men looked appropriately shocked. "It was so amazing too. The room was large and decorated in an expensive looking victorian style."

Lenalee told about how Allen had invited her to dinner and how she met his two faithful servants Lavi and Kanda. She told the now very interested Komui and Tyki about the days the two had spent talking together and eating together and decorating together with Allen's precious roses which he selflessly let her pick. And when she finally got to the part where Allen voluntarily let her go, she began to break into sobs.

For the first time since she fell into silence, Tyki and Komui knew why she was so grieved. Komui looked to Tyki and they shared a knowing look. The night they came back Tyki had come forward with the fact that he was captured and then let go with Lenalee. It hadn't seemed like anything more than strange behavior at the time but now they knew there was more to it.

Suddenly, Lenalee looked up, her eyes overflowing with tears. "So what should I do?"

"You shouldn't have just let her go." Kanda stated in a monotone voice.

It had been several weeks since Lenalee left with Tyki. Ever since that day, Allen had been engulfed in sadness. The white haired boy was spiraling into depression and he got worse every day. Lavi and even Kanda could not stand to see their master and dear friend in this state. Allen had been broken when he was cursed and for years before that he had been cruelly unhappy nonetheless, but now, after being left behind by this girl named Lenalee, he was destroyed. Nothing else he had ever been through had hurt him so deeply.

Kanda had no idea what the young master was thinking, Lavi suspected he knew though he had no idea of how deep Allen's feelings on the matter went, and Allen, only Allen knew exactly the reason why all this misery had befallen them again. This cursed and beastly boy had fallen in love with the sweet girl whom he had taken prisoner. Over the months they had spent together, the two had formed a bond and Allen had fallen for her. Each day turned week that past with the two together, the love he felt had only grown.

"You don't understand, I had to." Allen said without looking at the dark haired man. The boy was sitting on the edge of a podium belonging to one of his garden statues. He stared downward while he messed with his feet and the ground. "She would have been miserable here."

"She was already miserable here." Kanda huffed, undeterred in his opinion of the situation. He didn't need to elaborate, Lavi and Allen both knew he was talking about when she was taken prisoner in place of her brother.

"Yuu is kind of right." Lavi said in an offhanded manner. "You cannot be serious that you actually thought she would be happy here when this all started."

Allen let out a small, sad sigh at that. "I didn't...then."

"Then? But not now? What changed?" Lavi asked, but immediately stopped as he seemed to come upon the answer and a look of enlightenment lit up his face. "Love. Love changed everything, didn't it?"

At this, head shot up from it's position looking at nothing. Even Kanda's face looked properly shocked. Anyone who had known Allen as long as both Kanda and Lavi had, wouldn't have reasonably believed that the boy could feel that way. Love and even trust were foreign to him, how could he feel like that?

While Kanda was silent in both shock and understanding, Lavi continued with his inquiry. Lavi's voice took on a concerned tone. "Are you going to be alright?"

It was only one sentence, but it asked so many things. Would he be alright without Lenalee? Do you want to be alright? Could Allen continue as he has been? What are you feeling? Allen didn't know how to answer any of them.

The cursed boy just looked up to his friend with horribly sad eyes, eyes that made Lavi long for the days when Allen would look at him with blankness or even anger on his countenance. Anything that didn't show the sheer amount of pain he was feeling.

Kanda grunted in annoyance, but his eyes revealed caring, a rare emotion for the man.

Allen wasn't sure who said it, Kanda or Lavi, but he heard the words. "You know we'll still be here for you, Bean Sprout? We'll always be here for you."

And Allen could barely remember replying "I don't think that's enough, anymore".


	17. Wilting Roses

"Allen, please don't do this! Master!" Lavi cried, holding onto his master tightly. The white haired boy hadn't uttered a word since the day before. He wouldn't eat anything, either, and he wouldn't move from his perch on the statue in the garden.

The winter weather was taking it's toll as well. The town, being as barren as it was, didn't show much the changes in the season. However, the fierce chill in the air was enough to prove that winter was coming. The ground was also freezing and becoming hard.

Even with the chill, Allen refused to go inside. His servants were able to bring him inside once before by knocking him out and carrying him upstairs to his room, but ever since then, they had been under strict orders never to do it again. He had since been sitting in that exact spot perhaps not even listening as Lavi begged for him to come to his senses. Kanda, in a fit of passive aggressive behavior, had gotten so infuriated with his master that he locked himself in his room to meditate.

"Please! If you continue this, you're going to kill yourself!" Lavi was truly frightened by this turn of events. Talking to his friend and trying to rationalize with him didn't work. Lavi's usual attempts at humor fell on deaf ears and did nothing to cheer up the boy who was quickly falling into a depression. When he got this desperate, the redhead was not above begging.

Allen's only response to his pleading was a long moment of silence. It didn't seem like he was going to say anything for a while, but then his now very small voice croaked out a weak "Go away, Lavi". Allen's strength was dwindling to the point where he could barely give strong orders anymore. All the venom that usually accompanied Allen's ill tempered demands was absent and that was all the more frightening. If the boy kept up like this, he would not last much longer.

Lavi didn't leave, but he didn't say anything more. He had been trying for hours with no result. Lavi couldn't get Allen to snap out of it and he couldn't bring Lenalee back for the curse prevented him and Kanda from leaving Mater. Allen was destroying himself without Lenalee by his side and there was nothing that he could do about it.

"So what should I do now?" Lenalee asks, raising her head and showing a broken but hopeful set of eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" Tyki asked, bringing a cup of tea to is lips. Though the man was still yet to get over his shock at this new development in the story, he was nothing if not good under stress.

Lenalee sighed, sadly. "I thought I wanted to leave that place, I had never wanted to stay there in the first place." She paused, then continued. "But now that I have, I'm more miserable than ever."

"And all you want is to go back." Komui said. "Right?" He stared at her with a perceptive look. Tyki was shocked to see the man with such a serious look on his face. Lenalee did not give an answer, but she did not need to. "But I promised Tyki that he could marry you and I don't even know this person..." Komui continued weakly, but Tyki cut him off.

"I'll take you back." Tyki stated, resolutely, causing both siblings to look at him in surprise.

"Wha..." Komui choked out.

"Tyki, why?" Lenalee asked, shock and a hint of grateful happiness slipping into her voice.

"Let it be said that I have never mistreated a lady nor have I ever forced myself onto someone." Tyki gave a wry smile. " I don't understand it and I don't like it, but it seems that you need this 'beast'. That's all I'll say on the matter." With that, Tyki got up. "But first, you need to eat to get your strength up. Then we shall go back."

However, it might already have been too late.

_I've about had it with trudging through this god forsaken forest! _Lenalee screamed mentally.

If she counted right, this was the third time she'd done it. She was in no mood for this and anything that kept her away from Allen any longer was an annoyance. Though, she had to admit, she was filled with energy and each moment her resolve would grow stronger.

Tyki looked much worse off than she did. He had a grumpy scowl on his face and multiple scratched to accompany it. Every branch in the forest must have whacked him in the face by that point.

Lenalee would have laughed if there weren't so many butterflies in her stomach. She was going to see Allen. She was going to see Allen! She was really going to see Allen! It felt like it had been so long. Every day had been agony for her as she stared out of her window and imagined Allen's castle in the distance. She was so good at imagining that she would sometimes, briefly think she really did see it, but it was never there. In that time, she realized how much she really cared for the boy.

The boy who showed her so much kindness even though all she had shown towards him was suspicion and fear. The boy who played the most beautiful piano music, music that could lull angels to sleep. The boy with roses, whom she cared for deeply.

Lenalee glanced over at Tyki who was batting yet another branch away from his face. She still couldn't believe he was helping her get back to Mater. She really hadn't thought the man capable of such compassion and such selflessness. He'd even made a deal that would finally allow him to marry her and he was willingly giving it all up. She just couldn't get a grip on what his motives could be.

Lenalee ran her hands up and down her freezing arms to try and heat them up. Winter would be upon them soon and snow was just beginning to decorate the ground and trees. Lenalee shuddered as the cool air seeped into her skin, chilling her to the bone.

_Even the weather is against me. _Lenalee thought, bitterly, hugging herself.

"Are you alright? It's just a bit longer." Tyki's voice came just behind her, at some point he had caught up to her. Tyki was right, she knew, it couldn't be much longer to the clearing on the edge of the cliff where they would be able to see the castle. She was distracted by her thoughts and forgot to guard what she said.

'You only have to hold out for a while longer." Rtki continued, comfortingly.

"Why? Why are you doing this for me?" Lenalee asked, startling herself and Tyki. She wanted to apologize for having said anything about it or say something else, but was held back by the curiosity she had about his answer. In truth, she had wanted to know what he was thinking since he'd proposed she go back.

"I cannot abide cruelty to women, psychically or emotionally. I believe I told you that." Tyki said, a hint of humor in his voice.

"Tyki…" Lenalee said, her voice prodding him for more.

Tyki was quiet for a while before sighing. "I know I'm probably a pretty despicable person to you and I probably deserve that, but I am not heartless. I could deny it for a while, but I wouldn't be happy long in a marriage with someone who wanted someone else. I certainly don't think I could live with myself if I broke up two people who love each other and it's clear that you love him."

_Love. _The word resounded deeply within her as she mulled over it's meaning and all of it's implications. She really…

"Hey!" Tyki cried, grabbing onto her arm and stopping her just before she stepped over the cliff's edge.

"Ooh!" She cried, hurriedly stepping backwards. Her surprise quickly gave way to irritation. "Again? I really wish this cliff wasn't here."

"You and everyone else." Tyki said, trying not to laugh. "Look there." Tyki pointed towards the distance. Lenalee looked to see a familiar castle, looming over a town she was so happy to see.

_Allen's castle...Allen… I'll be there soon…_

With that thought in mind, Lenalee and Tyki carefully climbed down to the town and walked through the town. The same rotting buildings and barren earth that once scared her now welcomed her back as if they were sparkling. She decided that she didn't need beauty; she had Allen. And she was going to tell him that!

As they neared the castle, she broke out into a run. She passed through the gate and to the door. She was way ahead of Tyki and began repeatedly knocking on the door without stopping. When no one answered quick enough, she hauled open the large doors and rushed inside.

"Allen! Allen!" Lenalee called as she ran through the mansion. She looked about in the closest rooms before she heard a moan coming from a sitting room. She ran towards the doorway thinking it might be Allen. "Allen?"

It wasn't Allen, instead it was his two servants and friends, Lavi and Kanda. Kanda was sitting slumped in a chair placed against the wall, head hanging low. Though Lenalee could not see his face, she knew he was sweating profusely and his body was heaving with his heavy breathing. Lavi was splayed out on a sofa in the center of the room. His arm laid over his eyes perhaps shielding them from some unknown stimulant. His symptoms were the same as Kanda's but a little less violent where Kanda's were more pronounced. Still, it was easy to see that Lavi would be where Kanda is in time, if left untreated.

"Kanda! Lavi!" Lenalee cried and, seeing as Lavi was more accessible, ran to him and kneeled down to his level. A cursory look at Kanda showed that he seemed to have heard her, but lacked the energy or control to respond. This revelation only increased her panic. She began to shake Lavi. "Lavi? What's going on?! Lavi?"

Lavi groaned and then, with laborious movements, removed his arm from his eyes. His eye opened to reveal a glazed and faraway looking orb. Lavi opened his mouth and wet his lips trying to push out the proper words. "Lena...lee…" He spoke through panting breaths. "What're...you...doing...here?"

"No time for that! Just tell me what happened to you!" Lenalee cried, tears of frustration pouring down her cheeks.

"W-we're d-dy-dying…"

It was like a bomb when off. Any words Lenalee might have wanted to say now died in her throat. The thought had crossed her mind, after all, with them looking like that. They really did look like death or what you would expect it to be. Still, to hear it said, just like that, destroyed her.

"What do you mean 'you're dying'? Why? What happened? Answer me!" Lenalee cried, no longer trying to act calm.

"We…are...connected t-to Allen. When...he dies...we do...too." Lavi's body was wracked with violent coughs before settling enough for him to speak. "We all die...t-together. A-all three o-of us...together."

"Allen…?" Lenalee asked, a new level of terror striking her. Lavi coughed violently again and pointed a shaky finger towards the glass doors leading out to the garden. Lenalee shot up and was out the doors without delay.

After a moment's search, she saw him. There he was, lying on the ground face down in the fresh snow, at the foot of a large statue. All around him were rose petals which could only have come from his precious rose bush, a gift from the one who cursed him. The plant in question was not far away. The roses were now black as coal and wilted. She never thought they could look that way.

Taking a shaky breath, Lenalee hesitantly moved a step forward towards Allen before breaking into a sprint. As she neared him, she dropped to her knees. Gently but quickly, she turned him over onto his back. His eyes were closed and she couldn't tell if he was conscious or not. Placing her ear to his chest, she listened for breathing and got a response. His breaths were shallow and weak. In that moment, a frightening realization hit her.

_Allen's dying_


	18. Absolution

"Allen! Allen!" Lenalee sobbed cradling his head against her chest. _How could this have happened? It shouldn't have been like this! He should have been here waiting for me with his wide smile that came from such a happy place in him. _Another sob escaped her body. She was already shivering from the cold and the body pressed against her felt like ice.

"Lena?" A shaky voice whispered from beside her. She opened her tear filled eyes to see Allen, awake and looking up at her. His eyes were hazy, but filled with emotion. "Is that really you...or is it just my imagination again?"

Lenalee had to choke back a cry at that. Had he been imagining her coming to him often? The crushing guilt that that brought to her impeded her ability to reply. Several seconds later and after trying to steady her breathing, Lenalee forced out a reply.

"Yes, Allen, it's me. I came back." She smiled through her tears.

Allen's tired eyes widened remarkably beyond his strength. "You...came back?" He asked in a tiny voice, as if afraid she'd suddenly tell him he was wrong, as if she could. She gave a slight nod in response. A slow smile spread across the dying boy's face. "I'm glad. I thought I'd never see you again."

The two were so engrossed in each other that the rest of the world seemed not to exist. They never noticed when Tyki stopped at the edge of the garden and watched the two closely with bated breath.

"What happened, Allen? Why aren't you inside?" Lenalee asked, heartbroken.

"Pneumonia. When you left, I thought I'd be fine, that I could go back to how I was before." Allen's eyes shifted so that they were looking into hers. "But after you left, I just didn't see any point in living anymore. You were all I had."

_I never should have left. _"Allen, I'm so sorry!" Lenalee sobbed.

"Don't be." Allen gave a dry laugh. "I wanted you to be happy. You can't be happy with me...so…"

"No, I can! I have been very happy with you, Allen!" Lenalee interrupted him. "I was miserable without you! That's why I came back…"

"You were?" Allen asked in surprise. Lenalee doubted she'd imagined the snippet of happiness in his voice.

"I was." She let out a giggle. Talking with Allen again just felt so good. Suddenly, the body in her arms shifted, drawing her eyes back down towards him.

"I'm glad." He whispered as his eyes began to close. "I can be happy now." Allen's muscles began to relax as all the tension left them. He relaxed into her arms and his eyes slid closed.

"No! Allen, you can't leave me!" Lenalee cried. Allen gave no response. "You can't...Allen...I love you…" Lenalee whimpered, her sniffling was the only other sound in the garden. _Yes, she did love him. With all her heart and he needed to know that. _

"You...love me?" Allen asked, weakly, prying his eyes open as much as he could as he fought the lure of eternal darkness.

"Of course I do!"

"D-don't cry, Lenalee. I love you too." Allen said as he reached up to cup her cheek. His voice was shaky; his body couldn't hold out much longer. The two leaned down for a kiss, for what would be their first and last kiss. Suddenly, the two were engulfed in a bright light. "W-what's happening?" Allen asked, frightened. Lenalee didn't know.

The two likely would have been blinded by the light if they were not in it. Someone appeared before them and Lenalee looked up to see a very beautiful woman. She had silky black hair and was clad in an embroidered dress.

"My Prince." The woman spoke. "You have finally learned how to love someone else more than yourself. As payment, I release you from your curse." At her words, the light surrounding the couple intensified.

Allen screamed in pain. "Allen!" Lenalee screamed. She held him closer to her and buried her face and chest and buried her face in his chest. After pulling him closer she found her consciousness fading.

Lenalee thought that perhaps her life was being sucked out of her and that she was going to die with Allen. Her last thoughts on the matter being that that would be better than living without him.

Just before she slipped away, her mind cleared and she came back to full consciousness. She pulled herself up and looked around for a moment as if in a daze. Movement drawing her eyes downward, she noticed Allen doing the same. He pulled himself up to a sitting position.

"What happened?" Allen asked, looking to Lenalee. Lenalee opened her mouth to say that she didn't know, but only let out a startled gasp when she saw him. Allen, who saw the utter shock written all over Lenalee's face, grew worried. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Lena! Master!" Lavi's voice rang across the expanse. Said redheaded servant ran from the house towards the pair still entangled on the ground followed closely by a still shaky Kanda. The previously deathly sick man now looked good as new. Though his skin was still unusually pale, the light had returned to his visible emerald eye.

"Lavi! You're okay?" Lenalee cried, getting up and dragging Allen up with her.

"yeah I'm fine." Lavi you smile though he still seem to be recovering. "thanks to you." Lavi nodded towards Lenalee. It was only then that Lavi got a good look at Allen. He let out a cry of excitement when he saw master.

"All right what is it?" Allen cried exasperated.

"Have you seen yourself?" Lavi you reached into his pocket and pulled out a small hand mirror. He quickly threw it to Allen as he could barely hold in his excitement. "You look just like he used to. Before the curse and everything went wrong!"

"What?" Allen cried excitedly. He took the mirror and looked at his reflection.

It was true, he did look different. He looked just as he did before he he was cursed look like a monster. His previously white hair had taken on a chocolatey brown color. His monstrous arm no longer looked strange. It was the same pale skin tone is the rest of him. The nails on my hand were no longer black and it probably didn't turn into a claw anymore either. There was no scar over his left eye.

Allen felt tears of joy and sadness running down his cheeks. The curse had been lifted. It had been so long and he had lost hope. He'd long thought it impossible for him to have this again, to be able to look at his reflection without feeling remorse and hatred towards himself and yet here he was.

"Well, that was quite a show." Tyki said, lightly, finally leaving the edge of the garden.

"What are you doing here?" Allen asked while Kanda glared. There was more surprise evident in his voice than anger.

"He brought me back here." Lenalee jumped in. Seeing the pure shock written on Allen's visage, she plowed on hurriedly. "I might not have come back in time if it wasn't for his urging that I should come as soon as possible."

The guys all stared at Tyki, even Kanda, uncomprehending of what they'd just been told. They stared past when Tyki began to fidget uncomfortably. Finally, Tyki cleared his throat so as to let them know they were bothering him, they then turned all turned their eyes away quickly and an awkward silence filled the space between them. No one knew what to say.

It was then that Lenalee remembered Allen's unexplained transformation. Bringing their attention back to her, Lenalee asked what she really wanted to know. "What happened? Am I missing something here?" Lenalee asked looking between the two boys.

"The Master was cursed to ugliness because of his attitude. It could only be cured by learning to love someone again and getting them to love him in return. If the love was one sided, it wouldn't have worked and when you two told said that you love one another, he was released from it." Lavi spoke, switching to a more refined tone as he did so.

The two lovers stared at him for a moment before they turned to each other. "Lenalee." Allen said seriously, looking into her eyes. "Did you mean what you said, that you love me?"

At recalling her earnest confession of love but a moment ago, Lenalee suddenly became embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes darted to the ground. She gave a shy nod in lieu of an answer, unable to do anything else. Because she was looking down, Lenalee couldn't see the gentle smile that appeared on Allen's face.

Allen reached out slowly and held Lenalee's chin in his hand, lightly bringing it upward to lock eyes. While that hand kept hold on her face, sliding to her cheek, his other took hold of one of her hands and held it tenderly.

"Lenalee." He said softly but firmly. "Stay with me. Please. Stay here with me. I promise that I'll treat you right and that I'll always love you."

Lenalee's eyes overflowed with tears and blurred her vision. She didn't need to see, though, to jump forward and bury her face in the chest of the man in front of her. She felt his arms embrace her in understanding. They wouldn't be torn apart anymore. They'd always stay together and never look back. They stayed like that for a while.

**I'm going to try and make the next chapter the last one. Then, after that, I'll publish another story, likely a oneshot.**


	19. Happy Endings All Around

After everything had calmed outside, the company moved inside the house to warm up and assess any damage. Lenalee had tried to fuss over Lavi and Kanda, who were dying not a full hour ago, but the two would not have it. Lavi insisted that, since their ailments had been brought on by magical means and a curse that was no longer present, they had all made a full and instantaneous recovery.

Lenalee finally gave up after being continuously reassured by Lavi and Kanda, who stated vehemently that he was perfectly fine, and went to sit on one of the sitting room chairs. Lavi went with her and began checking for any wounds she may have sustained trekking through the surrounding forests. When he'd finished with her, he moved on swiftly to Tyki who was covered in scratches by that point.

It was decided that day that Tyki would stay at the castle for an extended period of time. Allen, Kanda and Lavi wasted no time in testing to make sure every aspect of the curse had been lifted. The men took off early the next morning and ventured around the abandoned town, something they had not been able to do for decades. To their excitement, they were each able to pass the gate and venture into the town.

Perhaps it was because their castle was immaculately kept because they cared for it every day without fail, but the condition of the rest of the town astonished and well as dismayed the three.

Despite their meeting and that they had both wanted the same woman, Allen and Tyki quickly grew close. Tyki didn't quite like the name Allen, it was a little too neat and tidy for Tyki. Even though he was a lord, he was much more fond of informal things. He soon coined the nickname Boy for Allen to which the white haired boy was immediately irked.

Tyki and Allen began to have arguments heated enough to rival Allen and Kanda's. In between their arguments, the two found that they had a lot in common. Tyki's favorite hobby was reading and he did it often when he was bored. Allen liked to read to as it was his only look into the outside world for a long time and had a magnificent library that he let Tyki use for the duration of his stay.

The next morning, Allen, Lavi and Kanda left the mansion to see if every aspect of their curse had indeed been lifted. True enough, they were able to pass through the gate and into the town, something they hadn't been able to do in years. They didn't know what they'd expected, but it was worse than they could have imagined.

They stayed together in silence for a while after that, the sight of the town so deteriorated driving home the full extent of time's passing. But they would fix it, they knew, and make it even better than before.

They set to work a few weeks later. Tyki used his connections to get merchants and builders to venture to the long forgotten town. He fabricated a story that a descendant of the monarch that once ruled over the barren kingdom and lived in the castle had come to Mater with the intention of reviving the once prosperous kingdom. Needless to say, everyone who heard this ate it up. All wanted to meet the mysterious Mr with royal blood.

Kanda, Lavi, Tyki and even Allen set to work cleaning up the forest. They needed it to be easier for there to be travel in and out of Mater and the forest was the only way. The trees and plants were watered, weeded and trimmed. Once they had, through extensive labor, cleared the foliage away enough to allow carts and carriages to pass through, the men laid down stones and mortar to make a simple pathway fit for both feet and wheels.

Once in awhile during the process, Lavi would stop and just watch Allen work. He enjoyed the sight as it reminded him of the loving, hard working boy Allen used to be. He had never minded being dirty or tired. He appeared where he was needed and just had fun. Lavi remembered when he first began seeing the change in his friend.

It was slight at first, the irritation with being kept waiting for something and lack of appreciation for those doing jobs around the castle. The boy who never seemed to care about behaviors more fitting of royalty began to take on regal airs. Complaining about food and service quality, belittling the servants, visiting the town less, dressing and acting like he couldn't stand to hurt or dirty himself for fear of his reputation being hurt. He began to take part in more social functions and held extravagant balls.

He even began to use that gentleman personality of his to methodically flirt with the women who attended his balls. Lavi, since they had been close friends for years, was one of the only people who worked in the castle he still lowered himself enough to talk to, along with Kanda. Allen began to confide in him things Lavi had to do a double take at to make certain he heard right.

He had to try not to choke when Allen would talk about getting married as if it were just a contract. Though he had never said it specifically, Allen had indicated he wanted to marry a noblewoman solely to benefit him politically. He also noted how women could be useful to have around for things like cooking and cleaning and keeping the castle. _He would end up turning the poor lady into a servant rather than a bride! _Lavi remembered thinking.

It was that night that the fairy came and cursed Allen and the castle. Lavi knew that what was said that day was the catalyst for her coming; Allen had crossed a line that day. When hiring people to work, Allen had paid due attention to a person's skills, but always chose based on their personality and if he liked them. Before he changed, he had always treated and chosen the staff well and they all felt like friends or family.

It was likely due to Allen's change in character in the last years, Lavi believed, that most of the staff besides him and Kanda left. Everyone else left, some left for fear while others thought of it as their chance to escape from the prison Allen had turned the castle into. The castle was soon to become a more literal prison and any one of them that had been loyal enough to endure that with Allen, no longer cared for the person he was.

Lavi and Kanda, on the other hand, could never have even thought of leaving. They had all been the best of friends since Lavi and Kanda started working at the castle and met Allen. When the fairy told them the conditions of the curse, she told them that they could leave or stay, it was their decision, but they would have to live with their decision for eternity. In the end, Lavi and Kanda cared too much.

Even though his eyes showed his need for them, it took the boy years to show verbal thanks for them having stayed. They had been there for him ever since, comforting their friend and catching his tears when they fell. It was painfully clear to Lavi how much Allen relied on them and even Kanda knew.

Now, though, seeing Allen truly like he used to be, Lavi felt for the first time like the curse had a purpose. It brought him his best friend back and that was worth more than Lavi could say. He also had to thank Lenalee, it was all thanks to her and her kind heart that this happened.

The hiring began after the forest was cleared out and the first merchants came through. The town still had to be cleaned and rebuilt, but no one was set to move in yet and they unanimously decided that the castle should be brought to life first. Tyki had become a big part of the process of bringing Mater back. He had surprising strength and stamina for a nobleman. Since Tyki had been of so much help even before the curse had been lifted and seeing as he had taken it upon himself to deal with many of the pertinent political matters Allen suddenly had to reacquaint himself with, Allen gave him the title of Royal Advisor and Chief of Cabinet.

Since there there was still so much work to do, they took turns interviewing the many people who came for jobs while the others would busy themselves with other tasks. Tasks like dealing with merchants and political matters, getting recently hired staff settled and other things. A new kingdom with a castle in need of servants was a big thing and drew people in from all over, many having worked in high class homes.

Compared to how many servants applied, they hired very few. There was a man, Noise Marie, who was hired to be the main gardener even though Allen insisted he could do all the gardening himself. A man named Bak Chang was hired to manage the servants. He obviously had a thing for Lenalee, but Allen and Lenalee just laughed it off as a harmless crush. They even hired Krory to work for them.

Among other hires, there was a middle aged woman they ended up hiring named Miranda Lotto. She wanted to be a maid and seemed to have all the credentials for it, but had a high strung personality. Tyki, Allen and Lenalee ended up interviewing her together. It started with her going to sit down and she ended up sitting down too hard and falling backward in the chair. She then proceeded to jump back up at an amazing speed and heartfelt apologies spewed from her mouth without end.

The rest of the interview with Miranda Lotto went like that. Miranda would timidly but excitedly answer the questions the group asked her. Every few minutes, she would do something clumsy and would apologize profusely. The three of them would then try their best to calm her down and placate the kindly woman. Tyki found her especially interesting and began to watch her every move with renewed interest.

Not long after the castle began to fill with people as it once was, the builders set to work on the town. Tyki and Allen (not to mention Kanda and Lavi, when needed) made a commanding presence that assured the builders would work quickly and efficiently. Every time a home was rebuilt up to living standard, someone was allowed to move in and slowly but surely the town became populated again.

The news of a new kingdom being brought to life by an actual King had spread very far by that point. Now, and with Tyki using his connections, many other royals and nobles were (if you'll forgive the expression) foaming at the mouth to set up relations with Allen. By the time a full year rolled around, Mater was a beacon of light in the land. The trees and the grass were growing back in full, the castle was flourishing and the town even more so. A cursory glance would still reveal that they were pulling themselves out of some hard times, but they were on their way and things were going smoothly.

A year and a half after the incident when Allen and Lenalee professed their love for each other found the couple on the day of their wedding. Allen and Lenalee were friendly with everyone in town and visited the town often. They would even play with the children that moved in with their families. All of the townspeople loved them so it only made sense that they'd have an open wedding in the center of town so all could attend. All the townsfolk thought that the two were a perfect match.

They needed a lot of food so that everyone could partake of the delightful feast, but their amazing chef, Jerri, was well suited to the task and, in fact, relished the challenge. He made lots of treats from all over the world and they were all perfect, it was one of the special things that Jerry could do. He also made an amazing and large wedding cake. The cake was seven tiers, each of a different flavor, of white buttercream frosting. Every tier was decorated with Allen's signature white roses.

Lenalee's wedding dress was simple but beautiful, with a long train the ivory dress was long enough to meet the floor if she didn't pick it up. Miranda took this opportunity to braid Lenalee's hair specially for the wedding. She braided in some of the roses from that very special flower bush in the garden. Lenalee looked so beautiful in her white dress surrounded by flowers.

Lenalee herself was incredibly nervous. She had waited impatiently for this day for more than a year yet now that it was here, she was so scared. It wasn't that she didn't want to be getting married to Allen, the opposite, actually. She was so excited to be married to him that she was cracking up over it. He wouldn't decide that he didn't want to get married at the last minute, would he? No, that was crazy since they made this decision together.

Lenalee continued to pace and worry until Miranda came and got her so the wedding could start. Lenalee managed to get even more worked up on the walk from the room she was using to where Allen was waiting. She was just to the point of hyperventilation when they got to the place where everyone was waiting.

What she saw was something greater than she could ever have imagined. All the people of the town were crowded in, all smiling and all there to show their support. Kanda and Lavi were there and Komui and Bak and, in the center of them all standing at the altar, was Allen. He looked amazing.

Allen wore a black suit that brought out the startling light of his eyes and hair, not to mention his smile. Oh, that smile, the one that always reached to his eyes. It spread across his cheeks and animated his face. She saw him standing there waiting for her amongst their friends and family. His smile widened when he saw her in her wedding dress.

Miranda handed Lenalee her bridal bouquet and went to stand at the altar next to where Lenalee would be standing in a moment. Komui diligently took up his place next to Lenalee and took her arm. Together, they began slowly walking down the aisle. When they reached the altar, Lenalee turned to give her brother a hug. As she did, he returned it and whispered some parting words in her ear.

"I couldn't have hoped for you to marry a better man." Komui smiled gently at his precious little sister. At some point she had become a woman and he hadn't even noticed.

Lenalee returned the smile with an appreciative one of her own and extricated herself from her brother to stand next to Allen. He immediately took her hand in his own and squeezed it comfortingly but gently. She looked into his eyes and saw the beautiful mix of love and kindness she had gotten so used to seeing in the last few years. They were both so engrossed in each other's eyes that the minister had to clear his throat to get their attention.

After the vows, Lenalee threw the bouquet and she went with Allen do the cake cutting ceremony. Many of the women attending the wedding wanted to catch the bouquet, not just because the queen threw it but because it was also said that whoever caught the bouquet would get married soon after. These women got into position to catch it and waited for it to be thrown.

Miranda was never one to go looking for love or attention or anything like that. Even though, deep down, she wanted the bouquet, she didn't get ready to catch it. Instead, she went to the back of the women near one of the tables of food and looked away. What happened next took her by surprise. Something flew at her and hit her over the head, bouncing off and landing in her open hands.

This event surprised her so much, she stumbled backward and almost fell on the food table. Suddenly, an arm reached out and grabbed one of hers, yanking her away from the table and towards them. Miranda realized what had happened when she felt her head resting on a man's chest. She hurriedly scooted back as far as she could with the man's hand still holding onto her arm.

Looking up at his face, she recognized him as Lord Tyki Mikk, one of the people who had hired her and who lived in the castle. Cue the hurried apologies and self- deprecation.

"I-I-I am s-so s-sorry, my Lord! I-I'm so c-c-c-clumsy, I…" Miranda stuttered out, but Tyki had learned to interrupt her without letting her finish or she'd never stop.

"It's quite alright, my Lady." Tyki said graciously and gave a charming smile. Miranda blushed, she wasn't used to being talked to so nicely by anyone much less someone of such higher class than herself. Lord Mikk was always very kind to everyone much like King Walker and Queen Lenalee. The three of them and others were always kind to her and each time, she felt as if she didn't deserve it.

She had been so flustered and lost in thought that she only then realized that they had both been silently looking at each other the whole time. She scooted back quickly and this time Tyki didn't hold onto her arm. Miranda rushed away to attend to Lenalee but couldn't keep the Lord from her mind. As Tyki watched the interesting maid run towards Lenalee, he felt that for the first time he was happy to be single.

Allen and Lenalee fed each other cake to complete the cake cutting ceremony. They both tried to be careful, but they got a lot of cake on each other's faces anyway. Everyone started eating and Allen kept eating plate after heaping plate while Lenalee looked on with good humor. She had gotten used to this part of him and she'd even begun to like the way he eats.

Lenalee sat by Allen, the two of them in their own little world. They wouldn't be going on a honeymoon after this, things were too important for them to leave right then. That was alright, though, they didn't want to leave. They wanted to stay there together forever and now that they were married, they would get to do that. By getting married, they pledged their lives to each other. After all, if there was anything they'd learned on their journeys, it was that they were drawn to each other by fate, by something stronger than any other force on Earth.

The couple looked at each other and they knew. And Lenalee wasn't afraid anymore.

~END~


End file.
